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14-654: The rally was first held in 2002 as Japan's entry into the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Japan's return to international rallying. In 2004 the rally was promoted to World Championship status as the inaugural Rally Japan . The following year the World and Asia-Pacific rallies were split into separate rallies with both still being held in Hokkaido with Rally Japan as the WRC round, Rally Hokkaido as

28-471: A traffic accident in early 2003. The team rallied around Crocker who won the Forest Rally and Rally of Queensland on his way to winning his first Australian Rally Championship . Two more titles followed, making ten consecutive for the team. Subaru withdrew from rallying at the end of the 2005 season. Crocker linked up with long-time ARC rivals Les Walkden Rallying with support from Subaru to take on

42-589: The 2009 Indonesian Rally, Australian Cody Crocker became the most successful driver in APRC history, winning his fourth consecutive title, all in Subarus. Four drivers have won three APRC titles each; New Zealander Possum Bourne , Kenneth Eriksson of Sweden, Malaysia's Karamjit Singh and India's Gaurav Gill . The championship presently has events in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, China and India. In

56-543: The APRC round. It has been throughout a Japan Rally Championship event as well. The event has been dominated by Subaru Imprezas . Local driver Toshihiro Arai has won his home event six times. Sourced in part from: Asia-Pacific Rally Championship The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship ( APRC ) is an international rally championship organized by the FIA encompassing rounds in Asia and Oceania. Group N cars dominated

70-475: The APRC title while H.Rahmat and co-driver Hade Mboi lifted the Asia Cup. Sourced from: Sourced from: Cody Crocker Cody Crocker (born 18 October 1971) is an Australian rally and racing car driver. Crocker won seven titles between 2003 and 2009 and with 24 wins and four consecutive championships is the most successful driver in the history of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship . Crocker

84-583: The World Rally Championship, based in Perth, WA. In 1998 Crocker joined Possum Bourne 's team, Subaru Rally Team Australia as the team's Number 2 driver and driver of the team's Group N Impreza while Bourne drove the team's World Rally Car . The following year Crocker broke through to his first ARC victory at the Rally of Melbourne . Crocker continued as Bourne's backup until Bourne's death in

98-461: The calendar being WRC rallies and by Japanese manufacturers backing half of the front runners with Mazda, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru all running front running teams. Toyota's double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz won the championship in 1990, Juha Kankkunen , Didier Auriol , Colin McRae , Tommi Makinen , Richard Burns , Richard Burns and Ari Vatanen all won rallies. Several WRC teams used

112-539: The championship as a junior development squad. By the late 1990s, the big teams were dropping away from the championship, or were running drivers from the region. The 2000 Rally New Zealand was the last joint WRC/APRC event and the WRC teams and manufacturers left and regional teams, like Subaru's New Zealand–based team and regional manufacturers like Proton were sharing the wins with privately run teams. The shift to Group N and away from WRC regulations assisted as only Subaru and Mitsubishi had eligible cars for Group N. By

126-480: The championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S2000 regulations have tended to be the frontrunners. The championship was first held in 1988, created out of the successful expansion of the World Rally Championship into Asia and linking with the debut of Rally Australia and won by Japan's Kenjiro Shinozuka in a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 . Initially the championship had strong support from World Rally Championship teams, aided by more than half

140-524: The first victory for a driver from one of the emerging APRC nations with Jean-Louis Leyraud from the French Pacific island of New Caledonia and India's Gaurav Gill followed. The occasional European driver has moved into the region to find a cheaper series to compete in instead of the expensive European Rally Championship , like Jussi Valimaki . Reflecting its roots as a subsidiary of the World Rally Championship it had class championships within

154-746: The main championship for Group N cars and naturally aspirated Two Litre cars. In more modern times the sub-classes have been split geographically rather than technically, allowing competitors to compete for smaller portions of the series to bolster flagging entry numbers. The championships created were the Asia Cup, taking in Asian continent events in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China with Thailand joining in 2003. The Pacific Cup takes in Oceania events in Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. By taking victory at

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168-555: The mid-2000s the teams were all privateers. The growth of Super 2000 regulations saw manufacturer teams return led by Proton. Since 2013 Skoda have used the championship to develop young European-based drivers, with Esapekka Lappi , Jan Kopecký , Pontus Tidemand and Ole Christian Veiby all going on to compete at WRC WRC-2 level. The championship has also been a proving ground for regional talent, even when World Rally teams were competing regional drivers from Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Malaysian driver Karamjit Singh brought

182-700: The past the championship has run events in New Caledonia, Thailand and Indonesia. After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 travel restrictions , APRC returned in 2022 with the first round held in Chennai's Madras International Circuit in India. Debutantes Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai won the first round of the Asia Cup and qualified for the finals. Hayden Paddon won the APRC 2022 title. In 2023, Indonesia's Rifat Sungkar and Aussie co-driver Ben Searcy won

196-582: Was discovered in the mid-1990s, winning a junior development title run by Australian Rallysport News (now www.rallysportmag.com) in 1994, coupled with runner up in the Victorian Rally Championship. For the 1997 season Crocker acquired a second-hand Subaru Legacy and finished eighth in the Australian Rally Championship. Part of his $ 15,000 prize package included entry into Rally Australia, Australia's round of

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