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)