Eriksson steers Mitsubishi to triumph in Indonesia Rally

By Dwiatmanta

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Sweden's Kenneth Eriksson denied Possum Bourne a second successive victory at the Indonesia Rally championship as he left the defending champion two minutes 10 seconds adrift to take the President's Cup yesterday.

Teaming up with countryman Staffan Parmander, Eriksson steered his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution unchallenged all the way in the final leg of the three-day race, the first round of the Asia Pacific series, thanks mainly to British debutante Richard Burns' retirement earlier on Saturday.

The Swedes maintained the overnight lead they took from Burns on the course and completed the 25 special stages covering a 400 kilometers in four hours, 15 minutes and 26 seconds. Eriksson's fellow Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Kenjiro Shinozuka underlined the team's supremacy by taking third place.

The dusty, hilly and sharply twisting routes along North Sumatra's rubber and palm oil plantations saw Burns' campaign to live up to the Subaru World Team Rally title abandoned, following a blown engine at the 14th stage located between Ser Belawan to Pematang Siantar on Saturday.

Four local drivers preserved Indonesian honor as they managed to finish in the top 10 in the overall standings highlighted by foreign racers, with top national rallyist Tony Hardianto finishing fourth in 4:41.06 with a Subaru Legacy. The fourth overall place also earned Tony the national championship.

Only 25 cars out of the original 48 flagged off on Friday managed to reach the finish at Merdeka Square yesterday.

Eriksson, whose experiences in world championship series earned him the second seed here, left title holder Bourne in his new Subaru Impreza trailing throughout yesterday's final leg.

"It's a great day of mine. All runs as what I have planned before," the elated 38-year-old Swede who first donned his racing suit in 1977 said.

He avoided pushing his car to full speed in the opening leg, saying that he needed to get used to the track he had never met before. He slipped 200 meters off the road in the seventh stage but managed to keep his cool to complete the race.

"I might be lucky on the second day," Eriksson said of his British rival's early exit.

The Swedish pair have set the remaining five rounds of the Asia Pacific series as the next item on their agenda instead of taking part in the world championships.

Bourne said he was quite satisfied with the runner-up tag. "No problem with my engine, the hot weather here nor the field. I tried hard but Kenneth drove well," Bourne said. The smiling driver added that gearbox suspension trouble hit his car in the 11th stage and this prevented him from driving as fast as he expected.

Both drivers locking horns for the best Asia Pacific driver title are tipped to meet again in the second leg of the region's championship rally, Bourne taking the advantage of driving on home turf.

Bourne, defending overall champion of the Asia Pacific series, said his chances of ultimate victory in the six leg series are equal to Eriksson's.

The Malaysian pair of Karamjit Singh and Ron Teoh BS finished sixth overall behind Alister McRae and David Senior of Scotland in 4:04.47, but will not receive championship points since their car has yet to receive a license to take part in races sanctioned by the world motor sport body FIA. (amd)

Final results:

1. Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Parmander (Swe), Mitsubishi Lancer 4hrs, 15mins, 26secs 2. Possum Bourne/Tony Sircombe (NZ), Subaru Impreza 2mins 10secs behind 3. Kenjiro Shinozuka (Jap)/Fred Gocentas (Aus), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 13mins 31secs 4. Tony Hardianto/Anthony Sarwono (Ina), Subaru Impreza 26mins 40secs 5. Alister McRae/David Senior (GB), Opel Calibra 31mins 5secs 6. Karamjit Singh/Ron Teoh BS (Mal), Proton Saga Iswara 32mins 38secs 7. Irvan Gading/Karel Harilatu (Ina), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 33mins 4secs 8. Dolly Indra Nasution/Farid Sungkar (Ina), Ford Escort Cosworth 33mins 36secs 9. Ledi Kurnadi/Raphael Arioseno (Ina), Subaru Legacy 34mins 17secs 10. Tolley Challis/Rodney van der Straaten (Aus) 38mins 32secs