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.