The Asia Pacific Rally Championship was inaugurated in 1988. This is one
of the regional rally series that spans multiple countries and is second
only to the FIA World Rally Championship in significance.
As its name implies, the main areas which this championship covers are
Asia and the Pacific Rim. The 2008 calendar consists of seven countries
and three of them are in the Southern Hemisphere, New Caledonia, Australia
and New Zealand, and four in the northern counterpart, Indonesia, Malaysia,
China and Japan.
It used to attract a few factory team entries from time to time, but World
Rally Cars are not allowed to run under the current regulations of the
championship. The majority of the participants, therefore, use Group N
cars which are lightly modified road cars.
However, the competition is still very intense, no less than that in the
era of factory teams' battle, because not a few of the drivers have experiences
in the WRC. In addition, each venue has its own unique characteristics
but it can also be so demanding and punishing for the rally crew.
For the Japanese rally scene, the first ever international rally event
held in the country was a round of the APRC in 2002. Building on this experience,
Japan now has become one of the regular hosts of the WRC and has a strong
international presence.
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@@yADVAN TIRE INFORMATIONz
Compared with domestic level rally events, the competitors have to follow
far longer routes and average speeds are generally higher in the APRC events.
This naturally requires a higher performance level for tires.
Yokohama Rubber Co.'s ADVAN A035e has a reputation as a high performance
gravel rally tire. Based on this model, the company developed a new gravel
tire, seeking even better results in international rally events. Its prototype
tires were introduced in the 2006 version of Rally Japan and contributed
to PWRC class wins in Japan and Cyprus that year.
This proto type tire was also used in the APRC concurrently and earned
much trust from the drivers and team staffs for their performance.
In the 2008 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, Cusco World Rally Team and
Arai Motorsport enter ADVAN equipped cars. Cusco team's Hiroshi Yanagisawa
and Yuuya Sumiyama, who has graduated to the international rally field,
will compete in four events in Asia and Dean Herridge will competer in
three events in the Pacific Rim region. The reigning PWRC champion Toshi
Arai's eponymous team enters Takuma Kamata, who is expected to display
top-notch performances just like the other three ADVAN shoed drivers.
