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Rally Japan | |
---|---|
Genre | Rallying |
Frequency | Annual |
Location(s) | Chūbu region |
Country | Japan |
Inaugurated | 2004 |
Website | www |
Rally Japan (ラリージャパン) is a rally competition held in Hokkaidō, Japan. The event made its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship during the 2004 season. From 2004 to 2007, the event was held on the twisty and narrow gravel roads of the Tokachi region near Obihiro. For the 2008 season, the event was moved to the region close to Sapporo, Hokkaidō's main city. Rally Japan was not held in 2009, but returned in 2010 for one year. Rally Japan was planned to return in 2020 to the new location of Nagoya, but was cancelled on August 19 due to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. It was cancelled again in 2021, and returned as the last rally of the season in 2022. [1]
Rally Hokkaido was first organised as part of the 2002 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship on the northern island of Hokkaidō. After two successful rallies the event was renamed Rally Japan and promoted to the 2004 World Rally Championship schedule. The rally was won by the 2003 world champion Petter Solberg of the Subaru World Rally Team. For 2005 the World and Asia-Pacific Rally events were split into two separate event with the APRC round returning to the Rally Hokkaido name.
The 2005 Rally Japan was held on September 30 through October 2. Headquarters and the service park were located in and near Obihiro, Hokkaidō. The rally was won by Marcus Grönholm in a Peugeot 307 WRC 1:22.1 ahead of Sébastien Loeb in a Citroën Xsara WRC. This was the last of the three world rally wins for the 307 WRC, and also the last win for the Peugeot factory team. The 2006 event was won by Loeb 5.6 seconds ahead of Grönholm.
Rally Japan was the fourteenth rally on the World Rally Championship schedule for the 2007 season. It featured 27 special stages, and was won by Mikko Hirvonen of BP Ford World Rally Team. This win was third in Hirvonen's career as a top level rally driver. The 2007 edition of the event was also remarkable for the retirements of both 2007 title contenders on the same rally; Marcus Grönholm retired on the first day of the rally after heavily damaging the roll cage of his Ford Focus RS WRC 07 on stage four. Sébastien Loeb retired on the next leg of the rally after his co-driver Daniel Elena called out the wrong pace note instruction for the first time in ten years.
In December 2007, Rally Japan organisers announced that for the 2008 WRC season the event will move from Obihiro to Sapporo, the biggest city in Hokkaidō. The 2008 Rally Japan featured 29 stages, including five super specials at the Sapporo Dome. The event saw Hirvonen take his second win in Japan in a row, ahead of his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala and Citroën Total's Sébastien Loeb, who secured a record fifth title with his third-place finish. The rally also featured a bad crash by François Duval, which injured his co-driver Patrick Pivato. [2]
The 2022 Rally Japan saw the event returns to the calendar for the first time since 2010. The rally moved its headquarters from Hokkaidō to a new base in Nagoya and is run on tarmac rather than gravel. [3] In October 2024, it was announced that the organizers signed a five-year extension with WRC Promoter GmbH, meaning the rally would stay on the World Rally Championship calendar until 2028. [4]
Petter Solberg is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver.
Marcus Ulf Johan "Bosse" Grönholm is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Championship driver. Grönholm's nicknames are either "Bosse" or "Magic Marcus". Grönholm is one of the most successful WRC drivers of all time, ranking third in rally wins (30), and winning two championships, in 2000 and 2002. After Peugeot withdrew from the World Rally Championship, Grönholm moved to Ford for the 2006 season and placed second in the drivers' world championship, losing out to Sébastien Loeb by one point. The next year he again placed second, four points behind Loeb. He and his co-driver Timo Rautiainen retired from rallying after the 2007 season but returned to the championship in 2009 driving a private Subaru for a short period of time, and in the 2019 World Rally Championship where he competed in a Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT-maintained Toyota Yaris under the GRX Team banner.
Sébastien Loeb is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He holds several other WRC records, including most event wins, most podium finishes and most stage wins. Loeb retired from full time WRC participation at the end of 2012. He currently drives part time in the WRC for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, and full time in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) for Bahrain Raid Xtreme.
The Rally of Turkey is a rally competition on the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) schedule.
François Duval is a Belgian rally driver.
Mikko Hirvonen is a Finnish former rally driver, and a current Rally-Raid driver, who drove in the World Rally Championship. He placed third in the drivers' championship and helped Ford to the manufacturers' title in both 2006 and 2007. In 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 he finished runner-up to Sébastien Loeb. Hirvonen's co-driver was Jarmo Lehtinen from the 2003 season until his retirement in 2014, Lehtinen had replaced Miikka Anttila who co-drove with Hirvonen in the 2002 season.
The 2005 World Rally Championship was the 33rd season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on January 21 with the Monte-Carlo Rally and ended on November 13 with the Rally Australia.
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The 2007 World Rally Championship was the 35th season in the FIA World Rally Championship. The season began on 19 January, with the Monte Carlo Rally and ended on 2 December, with the Wales Rally GB. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb won his fourth consecutive drivers' world championship ahead of Ford's Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen. Ford took the manufacturers' title.
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The Citroën C4 WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën C4 road car and replaced the Citroën Xsara WRC. The car was introduced for the 2007 World Rally Championship season and took the drivers' title in all four seasons it participated in at the hands of Sébastien Loeb between 2007 and 2010, as well as the manufacturers' title in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
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The 2008 Rally Japan was the fourteenth and penultimate round of the 2008 World Rally Championship season. The event saw Sébastien Loeb clinch his fifth consecutive world drivers title with his drive to a third-place finish. The event was won by Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford Focus, who led the event from start to finish to claim his third win of the season. Second place went to Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, his fifth podium of the year and his first since the Rally of Turkey back in June.
The 2006 OMV ADAC Rallye Deutschland was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over three days between 11 and 13 August 2006. It marked the 25th running of the Rallye Deutschland, and was the ninth round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season. The event was also the sixth round of the 2006 Junior WRC. The 2006 event was based in the city of Trier in Germany and was contested over nineteen special stages, covering a total competitive distance of 349.11 km.
The 2006 Rally Japan was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over three days between 1 and 3 September 2006. It marked the 3rd running of the Rally Japan, and was the eleventh round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season. The event was also the fifth round of the 2006 Production World Rally Championship. The 2006 event was based in the town of Kita Aikoku near Obihiro in Japan and was contested over twenty seven special stages, covering a total competitive distance of 345.72km.
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