The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Crocker eyes glory in Indonesia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 16, 2006
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Crocker eyes glory in Indonesia

D. Ravi Shankar

MAKASSAR (INDONESIA): It's titled the Gudang Garam Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the sixth round of the APRC calendar at South Sulawesi promises to be a `garam' affair, both literally and figuratively. With temperatures hovering around 40 degrees C, the drivers are in for a really torrid time.

Les Walkden Rallying Team's star driver Cody Crocker is one step away from clinching the title. He needs just eight points and a start in China to wrap up the championship but like all tough-as-nails Aussie competitors, he will be itching to make a sweep of the races. Despite the fact that he has never driven here before, Crocker will be the hot favourite to win here.

Team MRF's Katsuhiko Taguchi is 24 points adrift of Crocker and with just 32 points available in the forthcoming rounds, he will be a really long shot to upstage the Australian. Taguchi can however make an earnest attempt to help Mitsubishi win the manufacturer's title. Mitsubishi trails arch-rival Subaru by eight points and can make a concerted bid for the title.

The starting grid: 1. Cody Crocker/Ben Atkinson (Les Walkden Rallying) Subaru Impreza WRX; 2. Katsuhiko Taguchi/Mark Stacey (Team MRF) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX; 3. Rifat Sungkar/M. Herkusuma (Indonesia Rally Team) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII; 4. Hiroshi Yanagisawa/Yoshinasa Nakhara (Cusco Racing) Subaru Impreza WRX; 5. Eli Evans/Chris Murphy (LWR) Subaru Impreza WRX; 6. Jarkko Mettinen/Mikko Markkula (Team MRF) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX; 7. Fan Fan/Jun wei Fang (Wan Yu Rally Team) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII; 8. Subhan Aksa/Hade Mboi (IRT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII; 9. Brian Green/Fleur Pederson (WYRT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX; 10. Mark Tapper/Jeff Cress (Neil Alport Motorsport) Ford Fiesta ST 150.

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