Australian Wins Indonesia Car Rally.

[kingwilly]

Australian Driver Wins Rally of Indonesia to Take Asia-Pacific Championship Again - The Jakarta Globe

The Mitsubishi of Subhan Aksa competing in this weekend’s Rally of Indonesia in South Sulawesi. (Photo: Yusuf Ahmad, Reuters)
Australian Driver Wins Rally of Indonesia to Take Asia-Pacific Championship Again

Makassar, South Sulawesi. Cody Crocker of MotorImage won the Rally of Indonesia on Sunday to clinch the 2009 Asia Pacific Rally Championship for a fourth straight time.

Subhan Aksa of Pertamina Bosowa Rally Team emerged as the best local driver, finishing fourth on Sunday, a result good enough to give him his second series win in the National Rally Championship.

The Rally of Indonesia, the sixth leg of the APRC, also counts as the second series in the national championship.

Crocker, driving alongside Queensland navigator Ben Atkinson, needed just five points to secure the APRC championship but dominated the two-day rally anyway.

Driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI, the Australian finished the 221-kilometer race in 3 hours, 17 minutes and 7.5 seconds, leaving Japan’s Katsuhiko Taguchi and MotorImage teammate Emma Gilmour to come in second and third, respectively.

Crocker raised his total to 73 points in the season standings and with only one race remaining — the China series on Nov. 14 to 15 — he is already beyond the reach of closest pursuers Taguchi (44 points) and Gilmour (40).

“I’m very pleased with the result and with the way things went in this race,” said Crocker, the first driver to win the APRC championship four times. “Everything went well and it was relatively trouble-free for me.”

Subhan and navigator Hade Mboi clocked 342.5 to hold on to first place in the national points race. The duo also won the first leg of the national championship in East Kalimantan in August.

“It was great. Now I only need to finish in the top three in the last series of the national championship to get the title,” said the 23-year-old driver, who now has 20 points. “I’m very happy with this result.”

Subhan has been dead set on winning the national trophy and unseating Rifat Sungkar, the reigning two-time national champion. With two wins under his belt and Rifat deciding not to race this season to focus on the Asian Cup, the national title is Subhan’s to lose.

Sadikin Aksa, Subhan’s older brother, finished second in the national classification, while Rizal Sungkar placed third.

Antara, JG

[AntRobertson]

Oh, that would be the Rally where the Kiwi woman came third (or was it second) is it?