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| SUZUKI HEADS SOUTH |
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| 27 Jun 2002 |
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The Asia Pacific Rally Championship heads south to mid-winter in New Zealand - and while its cold it's a beautiful land of green vegetation, millions of sheep and the famous Motu rally stage.
The Rally of Rotorua is a true event of survival, beginning with a ceremonial start on Thursday night 27th June and the next morning heading east to Motu 1 and Motu 2. A mountain road that starts at sea-level and rises to 800 metres above, combining tight twisting uphill climbs, along sharp ridge tops and valley floors before heading down an escarpment to the tiny Motu township. The competitors then have two further stages on much more typical New Zealand roads - fast and flowing gravel before returning to Rotorua for the night. Day two will see the cars competing in the forests around Rotorua and Kawerau - fast roads but with a soft surface that quickly become rutted.
Day three will see the cars return to the faster gravel based roads near Rotorua - a total of 274 kilometres of competitive stages.
For Nobuhiro Tajima, New Zealand means a return to the drivers seat after his managerial role in Greece, overseeing Suzuki's participation in the Junior World Rally Championship. "Asia Pacific Rally Championship is very important for us - not only to win the APRC 2-litre championship for Suzuki but also the development of the Ignis has been vastly improved by our participation in real competition - we can learn so much from these events, data that we take to our Junior World Rally Championship programme. I have come from Greece very encouraged by our results - we are now so much closer to the competition that soon I believe we can challenge for outright victory".
For Nobuhiro Tajima, New Zealand means a return to the drivers seat after his managerial role in Greece, overseeing Suzuki's participation in the Junior World Rally Championship. "Asia Pacific Rally Championship is very important for us - not only to win the APRC 2-litre championship for Suzuki but also the development of the Ignis has been vastly improved by our participation in real competition - we can learn so much from these events, data that we take to our Junior World Rally Championship programme. I have come from Greece very encouraged by our results - we are now so much closer to the competition that soon I believe we can challenge for outright victory".
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Tajima-san is well known in New Zealand having competed here in many other rallies including the WRC Rally of New Zealand and also in his Pikes Peak winning car - at New Zealands own international hillclimb - Race to the Sky.
Leading the APRC 2-litre he is looking finish and accumulate more points in his quest to retain the 2-litre crown
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The next report from the Rally of Rotorua will appear on this site on Monday 1 July, after the finish of the event.
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