Race Torque wins another FIA Championship
Jussi Valimaki is the 2005 Asia Pacific Rally Champion after taking his third win of the season on the Gudang Garam International Rally Indonesia, the sixth round of the championship. Valimaki’s win also secured the manufacturers championship for Mitsubishi.
A total distance of 235.92 kilometers of competition over 13 special stages in the extreme heat of Indonesia through sugar plantations, Valimaki was quick from the out-set and won the first six stages to establish a lead of 57 seconds at the end of the first leg.
On the second leg he backed off to preserve the car in the rougher stages and finished with a lead of 48 seconds.
“I am happy to win the rally and get the championship. The car and the team have been working very well, but it wasn’t so easy as this rally was so hot and it takes everything out of my body. It’s not always a question of the speed – for sure we have the speed but sometimes it’s not necessary to push at maximum. I spared the car in the rougher parts and that’s the way to finish in a good position. This was definitely the hardest event to win, because of the heat. We Scandinavians are not used to these temperatures – it’s a bit too hot! For the next event in Thailand we have nothing to lose and can push for another win.”
Team-mates Katsu Taguchi and Australian Mark Stacey finished the event in second position and are now third in the championship. Katsu was very relieved to get to the final control “The temperature is so hot – its like hell!! We pushed hard today and got maximum bonus points for the leg. We had an engine problem in the first leg – overheating is quite a serious issue here with the high temperatures and slow average speeds in some stages, especially on the long stages.
But the weekend belonged to Valimaki taking the win and sealing the 2005 Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Valimaki proved from the first event in Canberra that he was going to be a major contender taking on the world fastest production car driver Arai, in a straight fight and winning the 1st leg of the event by 1.5 second. The MRF Mitsubishi driver did have some luck, such as Arai’s eventual disqualification at Canberra giving the Finn the win and then Taguchi’s retirement in New Caledonia, that lead to another win. “Fast Juss” proved though, to win championships first you must finish and thats the one thing he has done consistently all season – finish all events he’s started and with hardly a scratch on the car.
