Crocker maintains Canberra Rally lead

Subaru rally driver Cody Crocker goes into the final day of the Rally of Canberra, the third round of the Asia-Pacific Championship, with a narrow 12.5 second lead over Japan’s Katsu Taguchi, with West Australian Dean Herridge back in third place, 36.4 seconds off the lead.

Crocker, driving for the Singapore-based MotorImage team, was dominant from the start of the day, and after winning four of the first seven stages held a handy 28.9 second advantage with one stage to go.

But a steering alignment problem on the final stage saw his Impreza WRX STI become difficult to handle, particularly on the high speed straights, and the Victorian saw his buffer whittled away.

However, the reigning Rally of Canberra titleholder did enough to take the three bonus points for winning day one, taking his season tally to 19, while his nearest rival for the Asia-Pacific title, Finland’s Jussi Valamaki, failed to add to his tally of 15 after finish out of the top three spots.

With a further 13 points up for grabs tomorrow, Crocker knows it is vital that he and co-driver Ben Atkinson have a solid final day.

“Hopefully the team can get the car back in perfect shape for the final day,” Crocker said.

“Today went well until the last stage and the handy buffer we had is gone, so we’ll have a real fight on our hands again tomorrow.”

“Canberra is one of the toughest events on the circuit, the roads are full of threats, so you can’t afford to make a mistake. We’ll have to be right on the money tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

Results – Rally of Canberra – End Leg One

1, Cody Crocker, Subaru, N, 4, 01:19:27.7, 00:00.0
2, Katsuhiko Taguchi, Mitsubishi, N, 4, 01:19:40.2, 00:12.5
3, Dean Herridge, Subaru, N, 4, 01:20:04.1, 00:36.4
4, Jussi Valimaki,  Mitsubishi, N, 4, 01:21:05.8, 01:38.1
5, Rifat Sungkar, Subaru, N, 4, 01:23:49.1, 04:21.4
6, V.R.Naren Kumar, Mitsubishi, N, 4, 01:25:04.6, 05:36.9
7, Brian Green, Mitsubishi, N, 4, 01:27:39.9, 08:12.2
8, Atushi Masumura, Mitsubishi, N, 4, 01:30:00.1, 10:32.4
9, Denis Stevens, Subaru, N, 4, 01:35:25.6, 15:57.9

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