The 4th round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship will be held in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of the Japanese Archipelago.  This year’s Rally Hokkaido has 33 entrants.  Including the Japanese Championship entrants there are 61 rally cars to run with 8 APRC registered competitors including 2006 champion Cody CROCKER, Japanese ace Katsuhiko TAGUCHI and 2005 champion Jussi VALIMAKI of Team MRF TYRES.

Also Japanese driver Hiroshi YANAGISAWA, who took the second position overall in 2006, in his rookie year, joins Rally Hokkaido and will have to work hard to get on the podium. Rifat SUNGKAR from Indonesia and Brian GREEN with his Mitsubishi Lancer from New Zealand will participate as well. For Japanese driver Yoshio IKEMACHI in a Subaru Impreza, this year is his first in the APRC. He is a strong man and has raced in the Dakar Rally many times, and showed good performance in both motorcycle and car divisions, and has already scored APRC points in New Zealand.

And, unforgettable is Toshi ARAI. He is not APRC registered however, this hard-bitten 2005 PWRC champion driver will be car number 9 and is aiming for the top position. His co-driver is not Tony SIRCOMBE this time. Glenn MACNEALL takes the place instead. MACNEALL was the co-driver of Chris ATKINSON of Subaru World Rally Team until the middle of this season.

Rally venue Hokkaido is an idyllic region in Japan. While Tokyo suffers the mugginess of rainy season, Hokkaido enjoys invigorating weather.

The rally will be kicked off with the ceremonial start which will be held at Obihiro on the night of Friday 6 July. The venue has moved to Obihiro Horse Race Course and the draft horse racing called “BANEI-KEIBA”, only held in Hokkaido, is part of the pre-event celebrations. Top rally drivers including Toshi ARAI will ride the sleigh pulled by crossbreeds of Percheron and Breton and race against each other. Later in the event, 1,000 fireworks will colour the night sky and pump up the event.

The two day event starts the next morning. The event has 16 stages, total of 232.42km. The Finish Ceremony starts on Sunday 8 July at 1700hrs at the Service Park.