Rifat, Herry lead fight for 2005 Rally Indonesia crown

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Defending champion Herry Agung and current leader Rifat are bracing for a neck-and-neck challenge in the final leg of the Gudang Garam International Rally Indonesia 2005 from Pasir Bungur to Subang, West Java, next week.

Rifat of the Pertamina Rally Team tops the standings with 53 points, followed by Herry of the Bosowa Rally Team with 43 points. Rifat's brother, Rizal, is in third with 32 points.

With maximum points of 20 awarded to the winner, 13 for runner-up and 10 for a third-place finisher, Rifat will just need to finish a runner-up to ensure the championship.

However, Herry has not lost hope yet and said he was ready to win the final leg.

"We are optimistic that we can win the race this year although we are ten points behind the leader, Rifat," he said here on Friday.

"We have prepared our car a lot better than in the previous legs and we are physically in better shape," he said.

Herry's co-driver, Hade Mboy, said the current gap between the leader and his team was closer than those in 2003 and 2004.

"In 2003, we were 20 points behind the leader Chandra Alim, but we triumphed at the end, last year we were 12 points behind the leader Rifat but we won," Hade said.

"So with a ten-point gap at present, we are sure that we can still win the national title," he added.

Rifat was not present at the press conference. Representing the driver, co-driver M. Herkusuma said that despite the huge lead, they were far from complacent.

"There are a lot of factors that may prevent us from becoming champions. We don't want them to occur so we will be focused and fight our best," he said.

The rally will be staged over two days on Nov. 26 and 27, consisting of 12 special stages and covering a total distance of 315.22 kilometers.

Race committee deputy chairman Poedjo Bintoro said organizers had registered about 20 cars for the race.

Poedjo said next year's race would also have four legs.

"The first leg will be held in Palembang from April 7 to April 9, followed by the second leg from June 23 to June 25 in Medan, the third leg from Sept. 15 to Sept. 17 in Makassar, and Dec. 15- 17 in Pecatu, Bali," he said.

Like this year, the Makassar race will serve as a round in the 2006 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.