Makassar triumph gives Valimaki APRC 2005 crown
Makassar triumph gives Valimaki APRC 2005 crown
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi
Jussi Valimaki got a double belated birthday present on
Sunday, winning the Gudang Garam International Rally here to lift
the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) title.
The two-day Makassar rally was the sixth of the eight-leg APRC
this year, but the MRF Tyres driver's 70 points from the five
races he participated in gave him an unassailable lead.
In the battle for second place, Geoff Argyle of New Zealand is
now on 42 points, followed by Valimaki's teammate Katsuhiro
Taguchi of Japan with 38 points. Japanese Toshi Arai, who skipped
the race, drops to fourth with 35 points.
"I'm very happy at the moment. It has been a very good five
rallies for us ... also here. We won the rally and the
championship," Valimaki, who did not participate in the preceding
leg in Malaysia, told The Jakarta Post.
"The weather is very hot here. We tried to weather the heat as
much as we could. We tried all the time not to take too many
risks, stay on the clear line but drive very fast and
concentrate."
The Finn, who turned 31 on Saturday, admitted that racing
halfway across the world from his family was not his preferred
way to spend his birthday.
"It was a very lonely day since I was here, but ... that is
not important anymore."
Ahead by 57 seconds going into Sunday's final race, Valimaki
kept the pace to book the fastest times in the first two opening
stages on special stage (SS) 9 and SS 10 at the Bili-Bili
sugarcane plantations.
He slowed down in the final three stages, with Katsuhiro then
moving up from two places to first to cut the buffer to 38
seconds.
Argyle of the Silverstone team clocked the third fastest time
in each of the five stages to cling to third.
"I had an engine problem yesterday. It's not so bad today. I'd
love to have won the race but I'm still happy with the result,"
Katsuhiko said.
Valimaki said he would still honor his racing commitments
because he wanted to help compatriot Jarrko Kalliolepo win the
co-drivers's championship. The next leg is in Thailand next
month, with the final rally in China.
Local drivers battled among themselves on Sunday, with Hery
Agung leading his Bosowa Rally teammate Subhan Aksa to the two
top spots among national riders.
Rifat Sungkar, who took fourth place in Malaysia, dropped from
fourth to sixth place after problems with his Proton Pert.
Rifat, who had a handy buffer over his national rivals going
into Sunday, clocked the fourth fastest time on SS 9. But he was
forced to slow down with a break in his shock absorber on SS 12,
strikingly similar to the problems that handed last year's
national championship title to rival Hery.
The Pertamina Prima XP driver was lucky to force his car
through to the finish this time.
"Returning home from Malaysia, I was resolved that the
country's pride was at stake here, so I targeted a place on the
podium but my car was damaged," Rifat said.
He is still in a strong position to win the national
championship on 53 points, with the final leg to held in West
Java in November.
Defending champion Hery leapt to second place with 43 points,
pushing Rifat's younger brother Rizal, who was forced to abandon
the race on Saturday, into third with 32 points.