It was a dominating drive by the reigning APRC champion, taking ten points for the win and an additional six bonus points for finishing each day as the fastest car as well.
Crocker, driving the MotorImage Subaru Impreza WRX STI, took line honours by one minute 23.6 seconds from Japan’s Katsu Taguchi, with Jussi Valimaki third, one minute 59.6 seconds off the pace.
The Victorian driver now sits on top of the series table with the maximum 48 points, 14 clear of Taguchi on 34 points with Valimaki a further two points back on 32.
Crocker and co-driver Ben Atkinson were delighted to take the honours in Japan, the home of Subaru.
“Winning is always good, but to be able to deliver a victory for Subaru in its home rally was fantastic,” Crocker said.
“The car didn’t miss a beat all weekend. We didn’t have to change a part, in fact the only thing we had to change all weekend were the tyres, which says a lot about the say the car is performing at the moment.”
“This is a really tough event. Long, fast and very technical.”
“Someone said us winning is boring, but not for us. Each rally is an enormous challenge, a great test, and at the moment we’ve got the winning formula, and long may that last.”
“We’re developing a healthy buffer in the championship, but each round we have to produce a good result as that can all disappear in one round with a DNF.”
“We’ve still got three events left, so our goal is to win each of those as well.”
“Full credit to the MotorImage team who have made my job of moving teams this year a seamless operation.”
The next round of the Asia-Pacific Championship is from August 10-12.
Final Results – Rally Hokkaido
1, (AP), C.CROCKER, SUBARU, 2:32:13.0,
2, (AP) K.TAGUCHI, MITSUBISHI, 2:33:36.6, +1:23.6
3, (AP) J.VALIMAKI, MITSUBISHI, 2:34:12.6, +1:59.6
4, (AP) YANAGISAWA, SUBARU, 2:37:07.1, +4:54.1
5, (AP) V-R N.KUMAR, MITSUBISHI, 2:38:51.2, +6:38.2
6, (AP), R.SUNGKAR, SUBARU, 2:41:39.6, +9:26.6
7, T.KAMADA, SUBARU, 2:42:52.6, +10:39.6
8, S.TAGUCHI, MITSUBISHI, 2:44:30.2, +12:17.2
9, (AP), Y.IKEMACHI, SUBARU, 2:46:21.6, +14:08.6
10, (AP), B.GREEN, MITSUBISHI, 2:48:17.7, +16:04.7
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