The MRF Tyres Mitsubishi team scored a double victory on the Indonesian round of the 2007 Asia Pacific Rally Championship with a 1st and 2nd in the Rally of Indonesia.
Finnish driver Jussi Valimaki was in dominant form from the outset handling the rough conditions and extreme heat to score his second victory of the season. The team had found a good setup in pre-rally testing and Valimaki was fastest on all stages on the first day except one. “All the rally went very very well for us, all the time under control. The setup changes we made in testing make the car very easy to drive and the Reiger suspension and MRF Tyres worked perfectly, so very happy for the team, the mechanics, Mitsubishi and MRF Tyres. We needed this victory and the setup on this rally suggests that we can continue to do this in the next event in China” said Valimaki at the final finish control.
Jussi Valimaki & Jarkko Kalliolepo
Japanese team-mate Katsu Taguchi was 2nd, shadowing Valimaki for most of the event but settling for 2nd to ensure a 1-2 finish for the team “very good result for our team, absolutely! I pushed hard on the first day, maximum attack but today maybe I was pushing too hard, I missed a lot of corners, some over-shoots, sometimes understeer but still we are 2nd – but in China I want one more place up – win in China”.
Hiroshi Yanagisawa also from Japan was 3rd in the CUSCO Subaru and young Indian driver Gaurev Gill ensured a great weekend for MRF by finishing 4th.