RALLY HOKKAIDO

Highlights for the first rally day (September 18th)

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!