2007 Rally Japan - official thread

[White Sauron]

Ahh yes, what car number is he?

№53 (Evgeniy Vertunov/Georgy Troshkin), Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Thanks! Will be greatly appreciated!

Another interesting thing to watch is PWRC. .

Don't forget about the new russian champion Vertunov! Without any experience he was running as high as 3rd in New Zealand. This time in Japan he wants to stay on podium

[ZequeArgentina]

№53 (Evgeniy Vertunov/Georgy Troshkin),
Don't forget about the new russian champion Vertunov! Without any experience he was running as high as 3rd in New Zealand. This time in Japan he wants to stay on podium

Yeah, I am well aware of him. If you followed NZ thread, you will see my coments on him.
I think Japan will be more difficult for running on the first time than NZ.

[Tom206wrc]

Am I dreaming or have I well read it could snow in Hokkaido ????


A third snow rally in the 2007 WRC ??? :

[Rally Hokkaido]

OK, I'll try to answer everyone's questions:
Re PCWRC:
Aside from Toshi , this will be a very hard one to pick. As Zeque says, experience on the fast, narrow stages here is essential. Therefoe I would think Nuta and Kamada will be up there, with Pozzo also a good chance for a podium. I think the young guns like Vertunov and Hanninen will have take care that the Hokkaido bears don't get them.
Re GpN: I'm looking forward to seeing how Richard Mason goes up here. He comes with a big reputation (why is he seeded behind Emma?). Add him, Katsuta and Katsu to the above PWRC guys and it should be a real battle.

What are your predictions, ProRally?

AFAIK, Ikemachi is a gentleman driver who has taken over the Syms entry for RJ and is using an Arai Motorsport car.

It's raining here today, which probably means sleet or snow in the mountains.
Current forecast for next week is mostly fine and warmer than this week. Maybe too early to predict if Matt will be able to take some snow rally photos for you, Tom!

[ZequeArgentina]

Thanks RallyHokk.

So Ikemachi is not a threath.

I still thinks Haninen will do well, he will surprise you.

Haninen suprprise dme, when I watch him live, in one of the most difficults stages in Argentina, first pass in the fog, he was very fast, found sudden mud, spin, but not lost tiem. Second pass he was again very fast, while Arai and Villagra were fighting the lead of PWR, and he was right there, really very fast!!

[WRCfan]

Just replied to your PM, GigiGalli.
WRCFan, be extra careful if using the narrow, dusty liaison between SS2 & SS3 -
rally cars travelling in both directions and we've had some crashes involving rally cars in past years, there.
Everywhere else it's easy to get around, though there may be some traffic jams
in the town of Ashoro when coming back from Legs 1 & 2.

Cheers for the heads up buddy!!

I was planning on using the piece of road, will either rethink, or find a sneaky way to go about it! haha.

Either way somehow we will work something out. Going to be an interesting event, our virgin experience of Hokkaido although lived in Tokyo for 1.5 years now. Got to give Matt a real experience too, by the way can I pre-order 3 bears please...haha. One way to control the marshall's!

[GigiGalliNo1]

waaaaaat?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[ProRally]

....What are your predictions, ProRally?
....

Hi Rally Hokkaido...
Yes me too I think Toshi will be hard to beat, although he has like always LOT of pressure on him during Rally Japan with all the 'satshos' of Subaru there and with wrc car not able to follow at least they expect Toshi to win PWRC and take the title. It is easy said but lot of pressure for Arai san.
Then Nutara san will be at his home rally and with lot of bad luck in both the Japanese series and PWRC he will fight for the win.
Taguchi san will be upthere too.
Then the rest, in PWRC interesting to see how the regulars will do specially those who have been to Rally Japan before, Hanninen is fast but he had some mistakes recently (if he does not have mistake he gets excluded, so bad luck for him there), but he is used to do narrow stages.
Also good to see Richard Mason and Emma Gilmore in group N but here it will depend which tyres they will use, to be at the front end you will need the 'good' BFGoodridges or the 'good' Yokohama's

Would be strange to see snow on the stages, but I expect there will be, specially on the higher stages.

[pantealex]

Only possible contender is Pozzo, who still have more rallies to do.

Higgins has also 3 events left and He is 3 points ahead of Pozzo (15-12)

[Lalo]

It's gonna be very interesting this year with the title fight so tight..

If Marcus can win here, it's gonna make him almost the champion this year, as Zeque said before. 6 points in two rallyes between two very consistant drivers.. What a fight!

Is Munchi's gonna be in Hokkaido this year? In 2006 Perez Companc was doing very good (just outside of the top 8 until he crashed). Villagra has already been here for the PWRC.

This is getting better and better with every rally