Valimaki cautiously optimistic for APRC title in Makassar
Valimaki cautiously optimistic for APRC title in Makassar
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi
With the Asia Pacific Rally Championship 2005 title within reach, Jussi Valimaki is vowing to keep risk-taking to a minimum in this weekend's Gudang Garam International Rally Indonesia here.
The Finn is atop the standings with 55 points after five legs in Canberra, New Caledonia, Rotorua, Hokkaido and Malaysia.
With Japan's Toshi Arai, who trails in second by 20 points, skipping the two-day rally starting on Saturday, a win will earn Valimaki and co-driver Jarkko Kalliolepo the 2005 title.
"We are quite close to the title. I will not take too many risks in the race," Valimaki told a press conference on Friday.
With only six of the eight series counting toward championship standings, participants do not have to race throughout the season. Toshi has opted to concentrate on the Production World Rally Championship, whose next race is in Wales next week.
The ralliers said the weather in Makassar was not as hot as during the preceding race in Malaysia, but it is still a challenge for Valimaki.
"As a Scandinavian, the temperature (in Indonesia) is the biggest challenge. But, I hope I have a good race."
Valimaki won the first two series and finished runner-up in the following two before taking a break from the Malaysian race.
"I was lucky that I didn't take part in Malaysia. It was too hot," the MRF Tyres driver said.
Rally Indonesia has 28 entrants, 10 of whom are competing in the APRC category. Visiting drivers come from Japan, New Zealand and Finland.
The participants had a shakedown session in the morning before being officially flagged off at the Mandala monument in downtown Makassar in the afternoon.
"The Indonesian rally is no different from Malaysia, except that the stages are characterized by gravel," Geoff Argyle of New Zealand said.
Argyle, who drives for the Silverstone Performance Tyres team with co-driver Jane Black, is currently in third position with 34 points, followed by Katsuhiro Taguchi of Japan (25), Chee Hong Kan of Malaysia (22), Dermott Malley of New Zealand (21), with Brian Green of New Zealand and Mitsuhro Kunisawa of Japan tied on 11 points.
Chee and Mitsuhro are other absentees in Makassar.
Apart from being the sixth stop of the APRC, the race serves as the third event in the national championship.
Brothers Rifat and Rizal Sungkar, both from the Pertamina Prima XP team, are at the top with 40 points and 32 points respectively.
Bosowa Rally Team driver Herry Agung is in third place with 23 points.
Rifat, fourth in Malaysia in his only other participation in the Asia Pacific rally, was not present during the press conference. He flew in later in the day after he attended the National Sports Day commemoration in Jakarta.
Despite finding himself a distant second, Rizal did not rule out his chances.
"With the final leg to follow in November (in Jakarta), I'm still in for the championship. But I will be equally happy if I can retain second until the end, because I'm content for a place in the top three in my first season race," he said.
The rally covers 13 special stages over a distance of about 233 kilometers in the Bili-Bili and Takalar sugarcane plantation area.
The APRC authorities, looking to cut the series from eight to six legs next year, are closely monitoring the results, especially with participants picking and choosing their events.
"We can only count six results...so it is not necessary to do eight rallies," said APRC coordinator Murray Brown.
"Each team is picking one or two rallies not to attend. Toshi is not competing in this event. Jussi did not competing in Malaysia. That reduces competitiveness."
He was guarded when asked about Indonesia's chances of playing host next year.
"Well, it depends entirely on this rally...on what happens during this rally. Everything must run OK.
"The committee and the people running the event must have experience to know how to run a big event and make everything work OK."