- Rally Japan
Rally Japan is a rally competition held in
Hokkaido ,Japan . The event has been part of theFIA World Rally Championship since the 2004 season.History
Rally Japan began in 2001 as International Rally on narrow forest roads in the
Tokachi region on the northern island ofHokkaidō . The 2002 and 2003 editions of the event were held under the name of Rally Hokkaido as part of theFIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship .The first ever WRC Rally Japan was held in 2004 and was won by the 2003 world rally champion
Petter Solberg ofSubaru World Rally Team .The 2005 event was held on
September 30 ,2005 throughOctober 2 ,2005 . Headquarters and the service park were located in and nearObihiro, Hokkaidō . The rally was won byMarcus Grönholm in aPeugeot 307 WRC 1:22.1 ahead ofSébastien Loeb in aCitroën Xsara WRC . The 2006 event was won by Loeb 5.6 seconds ahead of Grönholm.Rally Japan was the fourteenth rally on the
World Rally Championship schedule for the 2007 season. It was won byMikko Hirvonen ofBP Ford world rally team. This win was third in Hirvonen's career as a top level rally driver. The 2007 edition of the event was also remarkable for the retirements of both 2007 title contenders on the same rally -Marcus Grönholm retired on the first day of the rally after heavily damaging the roll cage of hisFord Focus WRC on stage four.Sébastien Loeb retired on the next leg of the rally after his co-driverDaniel Elena called out the wrong pace note instruction for the first time in ten years. In December, Rally Japan organisers announced that for the 2008 WRC season the event will move fromObihiro toSapporo , the biggest city in Hokkaidō.Past winners
External links
* [http://www.rallyjapan.jp Official site]
* [http://www.wrc.com?WT.mc_id=wiki WRC.com - Official site of the World Rally Championship]References
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