Female racer enters Indonesian rally

Female racer enters Indonesian rally

JAKARTA (JP): Italy's world rally winning co-driver Fabrizia
Pons looks certain to add life to the Rally of Indonesia in
Medan, North Sumatra, where she teams up with compatriot Pierro
Liatti.

Pons, an architect from Turin, has signed with Subaru for the
third leg of the world rally championship in Medan and the
remaining rounds of the season.

The Italian woman joins France's "Biche" Michele Espinos as
the only other female co-driver to have won world championship
events, with Pons beating her French rival by four victories to
two so far.

"It has been a few years since I won a world championship
event, but I have very high hopes for us. I think we will work
very well together," said Pons, Subaru's first female crew
member.

Pons clinched victories in 1995 in Morocco and Portugal and
finished second in the Hong Kong-Beijing race with long-time
partner Ari Vatanen.

The mother of two children has contested no less than 161
rallies, 51 of which were world championships, a healthy record
that will be invaluable to Latti who is making his world
championship debut in Medan.

Latti will join forces with his Subaru's team mates of Colin
McRae of Scotland and Kenneth Eriksson of Sweden.

The combination of high temperatures, challenging surfaces and
tricky stages through the tropical plantations of Northern
Sumatra will provide a totally different arena for the teams who
have competed in the ice and snow of Sweden and the deserts of
Kenya, with the first two rounds won by Finnish Tomi Makinen of
Mitsubishi.

Makinen, who finished third in the 1995 rally, will be
partnered by Briton Richard Burns on his Indonesian debut.

Also making the first appearance on Indonesian soil is
Finland's Juha Kankkunen, who will be driving a Toyota Australia
Celica GT Four with co-driver Nicky Grist.

Local drivers

A number of top Indonesian drivers are entered, including
Formula Asia's Chandra Alim, long distance specialist Tinton
Soeprapto, leading privateer Ismail Johan and Ricardo Gelael for
the Goro Rally Team.

Hutomo Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's son, who finished
sixth in last year's rally to make him the top-placed Indonesian
driver, returns this year in a Subaru Impreza 555 with his new
navigator, New Zealand's Tony Sircombe.

Also entered in a Subaru Impreza is reigning Indonesian Rally
Champion Tony Hardianto, who finished seventh overall in Medan
last year, with co-driver Anthony Sarwono.

In addition to Dandy Rukmana, Indonesia will be well
represented at the 1996 rally. Dandy's father, Indra, and
brother, Danny, are teamed with Dolly Indra Nasution for Ford
Indonesia, while the sponsor, Bank Utama, will be represented by
Pratikto Singgih, who has successfully competed in both the
Indonesian national series as well as overseas events, in a Ford
Escort RS Cosworth. (05/amd)