Sunday, Sep 14, 2003
Sunday, Sep 14, 2003 |
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Racing : Motor
By Sanjay Rajan
The competitors described the conditions as scarily slippery. Toshi Arai, the on-road leader for the second day on the trot, said it was downright dangerous. "It was impossible to turn, especially on SS-12 (Rikubetsu-2), where at any given point I thought I was going to fall over." The Japanese is, however, not APRC registered. In fact, stage 10 - the fourth of the day's eight stages - had to be cancelled after Kiwi Andrew Hawkeswood, in an Evo6, the ninth car on the starting list, got stuck in the slush midway through the stage. The first seven cars kept their timings while the timing of the eighth car (K. Taguchi, 10:05.1), was given to the rest. The day's biggest casualty was overnight APRC leader, Fumio Nutahara (Satoshi Hayashi) of the Advaan-PIAA team. The Hokkaido-bred driver, who is the championship leader on points, was the favourite, considering he knows the terrain like the back of his hand. Unmindful of the risks involved, Nutahara drove furiously and was leading the APRC pack until stage 12 when the suspension of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7 broke 50-metres from the finish. A new leader emerged thereafter. Team MRF Tyres' Armin Kremer, in an Evo7, took over the mantle in APRC Group N, while Kiwi Geoff Argyle leads in APRC overall, with Kremer in the second slot. A minute and 23.4 seconds separate the two. "Thankfully, things did not turn out that bad for us. We were lucky to make steady progress. The key was to maintain a steady pace. A touch of caution was required. I had problems with the clutch in the final stage. But we managed to get through with it. I must say that (SS-14) was a rather long stage," said Kremer, a German and a former European champion. Argyle, driving a souped-up Group A Evo6, said the team chose the wrong tyres in the opening stage, but shifted to the right ones thereon. "It was smooth sailing thereafter," he said. Only 38 cars out of the 62 original starters remain in the fray. Big guns like Karamjit Singh and Nico Caldarola, who went out of the reckoning on the opening day, are running for leg points, as is Team MRF Tyres' other entry, David Doppelreiter. The provisional results (leg 2): APRC overall: 1. Geoff Argyle (Steve Smith), NZ, Gr. A, Evo6, 2:18.14.1; 2. Armin Kremer (Fred Berssen), Ger, Team MRF Tyres, Gr. N, 2:19.37.5; 3. Chris Atkinson (Benjamin Atkinson), Aus, Gr. A, Suzuki Ignis, 2:25.15.8. APRC Group N: 1. Armin Kremer, 2. Atsushi Masumura(Yukinori Fukumura), Jpn, Evo8, 2:33.19.2.
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