2017 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

Last updated April 25, 2019

2017 Asia-Pacific Rally season
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The 2017 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested by a combination of regulations with Group R competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points.

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 the championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S2000 regulations have tended to be the frontrunners.

Rally is a form of motorsport that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. It is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points, leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages.

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. To the general public, the FIA is mostly known as the governing body for many auto racing events. The FIA also promotes road safety around the world.

The championship was won for the third time by the reigning champion, Indian driver Gaurav Gill driving a Škoda Fabia R5. Gill had previously won the championship in 2013 and 2016. Gill was first or second in each of the five rallies, winning his home rally the Coffee Day Rally as well as rallies in New Zealand and Japan. His Team MRF team mate, Norwegian rallyist Ole Christian Veiby was runner up in the championship, taking the remain two victories in Australia and Malaysia. Swedish driver Robert Blomberg was third in the title driving a Mitsubishi Mirage R5. Blomberg finished ahead of Veiby in Japan, the only APRC driver to beat either Team MRF Škoda driver. Veiby won the Pacific Cup held over just the two Pacific division rallies after New Caledonia was dropped from the scedule two years ago. Gill won the Asian cup held over the three events held in the Asian division.

Gaurav Gill is an Indian race car driver who competes in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. In 2013, Gaurav Gill became the first Indian driver to win the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

The Škoda Fabia R5 is a rally car built by Škoda Motorsport. It is based upon the Škoda Fabia road car and is built to Group R5 regulations. It made its competition début in 2015 as a successor to the Škoda Fabia S2000. The car proved to be very successful in the World Rally Championship-2 class, winning twenty-four events between 2015 and 2017. Esapekka Lappi won the 2016 World Rally Championship-2 drivers title with four victories, Pontus Tidemand won the 2017 championship and Jan Kopecký won the 2018 championship. Škoda Motorsport won the FIA World Rally Championship-2 for Teams in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Starting in 2019, Škoda Motorsport will enter the Fabia R5 in the professional class of the World Rally Championship-2.

Ole Christian Veiby is a rally and rallycross driver from Norway.

Event calendar and results

The 2017 APRC is as follows:

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
Round	Rally name	Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	International Rally of Whangarei (28–30 April)^[1]	1	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	2:35:06.8	15	248.77 km	61	27
		2	Ole Christian Veiby	Škoda Fabia R5	2:37:09.6
		3	Matt Summerfield	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	2:42:00.3

2	National Capital Rally (26–28 May)^[2]	1	Ole Christian Veiby	Škoda Fabia R5	2:15:11.2	13	212.67 km	14	12
		2	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	2:16:00.5
		3	Jari Ketomaa	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	2:17:16.8

3	International Rally of Johor (11–13 August)^[3]	1	Ole Christian Veiby	Škoda Fabia R5	3:02:39.1	13	216.66 km	29	27
		2	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	3:07:20.4
		3	Jari Ketomaa	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	3:07:39.5

4	Rally Hokkaido (15–17 September)^[4]	1	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	1:53:21.8	17	193.24 km	64	48
		2	Toshihiro Arai	Subaru WRX Sti	1:55:46.7
		3	Norihiko Katsuta	Subaru WRX Sti	1:57:43.2

5	Coffee Day India Rally (21-26 November)^[5]	1	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	3:20:19.8	17	207.54 km
		2	Ole Christian Veiby	Škoda Fabia R5	3:37:58.2
		3	Abhilash Pallath Ganesh	Subaru Impreza STi N14	3:42:36.4

Championship standings

The 2017 APRC for Drivers points was as follows:^[6]

Pos.	Driver	Vehicle	NZL	AUS	MAL	JPN	IND	Total
1	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	1 ¹³	2 ¹²	2 ¹²	1 ¹³	1 ¹³	174
2	Ole Christian Veiby	Škoda Fabia R5	2 ¹³	1 ¹⁴	1 ¹³	3 ⁷	2 ¹²	160
3	Robert Blomberg	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	3 ⁹	4 ⁸	4 ⁷	2 ¹¹		92
4	Jari Ketomaa	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	Ret ⁵	3 ¹⁰	3 ¹¹	Ret		56
5	Abhilash Pallath Ganesh	Subaru Impreza STi N14	4 ⁷	5 ⁶	Ret ⁴		Ret ⁶	45

Key
Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Black	Excluded (EX)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
White	Cancelled (C)
Blank	Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

Note: ¹ – ¹⁴ refers to the bonus points awarded for each leg of the rally for the first five place getters, 1st (7), 2nd (5), 3rd (3), 4th (2), 5th (1). There were two bonus legs for each rally.

Pacific Cup

Pos.	Driver	Vehicle	NZL	AUS	Total
1	Ole Christian Veiby	Škoda Fabia R5	1 ¹⁴	1 ¹⁴	78
2	Fuyuhiko Takahashi	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	2 ¹¹	4 ⁸	49
3	Abhilash Pallath Ganesh	Subaru Impreza STi N14	3 ⁹	3 ¹⁰	49
4	Jari Ketomaa	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	Ret ⁶	2 ¹²	36

Asia Cup

Pos.	Driver	Vehicle	MAL	JPN	IND	Total
1	Gaurav Gill	Škoda Fabia R5	1 ¹⁴	1 ¹⁴	1 ¹⁴	117
2	Robert Blomberg	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	5 ⁷	2 ¹¹		46
3	Sanjay Takale	Mitsubishi Mirage R5	4 ⁷	3 ⁵		39
4	Yuya Sumiyama	Škoda Fabia R5	3 ¹⁰	Ret ⁶		31
5	Michael Young	Subaru Impreza STi N16	2 ¹²	Ret		30

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References

↑ "International Rally of Whangarei 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
↑ "National Capital Rally - APRC 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
↑ "41. International Rally of Johor 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
↑ "16. Rally Hokkaido 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
↑ "Coffee Day India Rally APRC 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
↑ "2017 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship; Points Summary; Points Standing After Round 5; Final Classification" (PDF). Asia-Pacific Rally Championship . Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

External links

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[1] "International Rally of Whangarei 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[2] "National Capital Rally - APRC 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[3] "41. International Rally of Johor 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[4] "16. Rally Hokkaido 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[5] "Coffee Day India Rally APRC 2017". EWRC-Results.com. EWRC-Results. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[6] "2017 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship; Points Summary; Points Standing After Round 5; Final Classification" (PDF). Asia-Pacific Rally Championship . Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd. Retrieved 1 June 2018.