Sport - Racing : Horse   

Nutahara emerges leader

By Sanjay Rajan

CANBERRA APRIL 26. The action moved from the pine forests to the foothills of the Brindabella Mountains on Saturday. The change in conditions, however, brought out the best in Advan-PIAA team's Fumio Nutahara and Team MRF's Armin Kremer. The Japanese emerged the leader among the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC)- registered drivers in the overall category and retained his top spot in Group N on the second day of the Subaru Rally of Canberra, the first of the six-round APRC 2003 season, here.

German Kremer (co-driver Fred Berssen), in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7, retained his second spot behind the bespectacled Japanese in Group N and third overall, which is commendable for someone driving for the first time in this trying terrain.

Demanding the route certainly was, with the tight bends only getting tighter, which saw eight cars crash out. It included two APRC drivers in New Zealander Andrew Hawkeswood (Paul Fallon) and the dangerous Kiwi Reece Jones (Leo Bult).

The former damaged the radiator of his Subaru Impreza, which led to the engine seizing, while the latter was forced out with engine trouble in his Evo7. Kremer, a former European champion who was behind Nutahara by 10.9 seconds overnight, had a better start over the Japanese. He made close to 12 seconds over the leader in the first of the day's nine stages, three seconds in the fourth and another five in the seventh, but lost out in the other stages.

"It's our first time here, you see. We just didn't get enough traction, especially on the corners. But we gained on the straights though. We need to work on the suspension for better traction. But day two was certainly better that the first, cause we got to understand the terrain better. We should catch up with Nutahara tomorrow."

The other Team MRF entry, Austrian David Doppelreiter (Ola Fioene), was third in Group-N and sixth overall. The young Austrian said he was having problems adjusting to gravel after having driven on tarmac all his life.

"I'm reacting a touch late to the pace notes. Also, I'm not yet comfortable with this car, having rallyed only lighter cars. The speed is there. I need to concentrate a lot more. I was slow to begin with, but in the day's seventh stage I was just 12 seconds behind Kremer."

Kiwi Geoff Argyle, who drove his Group-A Evo6.5 to the APRC overall lead overnight, holds the second spot in that category.

Provisional standings (only APRC-registered drivers) after leg 2: Overall classification: 1. Fumio Nutahara (Satoshi Hayashi), Japan, Group N, 2:04:19.2S; 2. Geoff Argyle (Steve Smith), NZ, A, 2:04:20.8S; 3. Armin Kremer (Fred Berssen), Germany, Team MRF, N, 2:04:35.7S; 4. Chris Atkinson (Ben Atkinson), Aus, A, 2:10:23.4S; 5. Brian Green (Fleur Pedersen), NZ, A, 2:12:34.5S, 6. David Doppelreiter (Austria)/Ola Floene (Norway), Team MRF, N, 2:14:54.7S.

Group N: 1. Fumio Nutahara, 2. Armin Kremer, 3. David Doppelreiter, 4. Haruo Takakuwa (Japan)/Paul Flintoff (Aus), 5. Atsushi Masumura (Tokinori Fukumura), Japan.

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