APRC Flash No.5 (After SS16 OTOFUKE REVERSE 2) is now published. The weather is fine today, and they are doing best and working to finish the rally.
Good morning from Rally HQ/Media Centre!
It is the morning of the final day of the Rally Hokkaido, and we are having wonderful weather here unlike the pouring rain yesterday. Some of the officials reported the weather in their stages are good, too.
Early in the morning today, total 20 APRC rally cars departed from the TC11E of the Kita Aikoku Service Park to SS12 OTOFUKE REVERSE 1, which is the first stage of the Leg 2. 23 JRC rally cars followed those APRC cars (among the 26 JRC cars in the Leg 2 start list, 3 of them decided against restarting).
Thank you very much for your support for the crews/teams in Rally Hokkaido!
Driver interview after SS6 RIKUBETSU LONG 2 (same as APRC Flash 3)
APRC Flash No.4 (After SS11 SATSUNAI RIVER 2) is now published. This was the last stage of the leg, and kudos for those who finished the day!
APRC Flash No.2 (SS2 RIKUBETSU LONG 1) is now published. It sounds like it was a very slippery stage!
Driver interview after SS1 SATSUNAI RIVER 1 (same as APRC Flash 1)
Finally, the rally has begun! Upon completing recce and scrutineering in the morning, rally cars returned to the Kita Aikoku Service Park. Some of them ran the Shakedown from the noon, and confirmed the feeling of their cars and the road.
At 14:30, pre-event media conferences were held at the Media Centre. At first, APRC conference was held, inviting the APRC series leader : Mr. Pontus Tidemand, his teammate and 2nd leader: Mr. Gaurav Gill, 2006 JWRC champion: Mr. Patrik Sandell, and Cusco driver Mr. Michael Young. The conference was followed by JRC (national rally) media conference.
From 15:45, Rally Show was held at the service park, where rally fans had opportunities to ask for autographs and/or shaking hands with their favorite crew, and cheer them up for the soon-to-begin rally.
Drizzle was turning to light rain when the ceremonial start was held. But fans stayed in the service park to share the same air with the rally crews and witnessed the start of the rally, the journey of 961.27km with 20 special stages.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier when the SS1 SATSUNAI RIVER 1 started, making the condition of the stage even harder with limited visibility and slippery road surface.
The Leg 1b’s first stage, SS2 RIKUBETSU LONG 1, will start at 8:28am today. RIKUBETSU LONG is a very popular and famous stage where a lot of dramas were born in the international rallies. We hope you enjoy the rally, on site or virtually with this website. Stay tuned with us!
Video of the APRC Pre-event Media Conference is now available for viewing.
Shakedown result is published.
Just like previous year, we are posting unofficial results as those are reported from the field. Please keep you updated with the progress of the rally with those websites.
[For PC and Smartphones]
http://www.rally-hokkaido.com/results/2015/pc/
[For regular cell phones]
http://www.rally-hokkaido.com/results/2015/m/