2014 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

The 2014 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 N competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points.

The championship began in New Zealand on 11 April and concluded in China on 9 November. The Asia Cup sub-championship had been due to continue to a 7 December finish in Thailand, but this event was cancelled. The championship was held over six events with a candidate event included as part of the Asia Cup. A second candidate event in India was scheduled to be held in India but proximity of local parliamentary elections restricted the event's ability to upgrade competitive stages within the timeframe allowed by the early season. The rally was rescheduled until the end of the local season and its APRC status removed.

The championship was won by European champion Jan Kopecký driving a Team MRF prepared Škoda Fabia. Kopecký wrapped up the championship early after his victory at Rally Hokkaido, the third of his four victories in the six-event season.[1][2] Defending champion Gaurav Gill won the other two rallies and held second in the championship until the final rally. Two late season failures allowed him to be overtaken by New Zealand Proton driver Michael Young. Škoda won the manufacturers championship from Mitsubishi. Team MRF – with drivers Kopecký and Gill – won all six rallies, winning the teams title from Japanese Subaru team Cusco Racing.[3]

Kopecký won the Pacific Cup in dominant fashion with almost double the points of his nearest competitors. Young and Australian Mitsubishi driver Mark Pedder tied for second, with Young being awarded the runners up position on countback.

Japanese Subaru driver Yuya Sumiyama won the Asia Cup, finishing 50 points clear of Sri Lankan Subaru driver Dinesh Deheragoda. Gill faded to fourth in the Asia Cup after failing to finish at Rally Hokkaido and Rally China Longyou.

Selected entries

Icon Cup
A Asia Cup
P Pacific Cup
Constructor Car Team Driver Co-driver Cup Class Rounds
Škoda Škoda Fabia S2000 India Team MRF India Gaurav Gill Australia Glenn MacNeall RC2 All
Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Czech Republic Pavel Dresler P RC2 All
China Young Motorsport TS Club China Jun Xu China Sheng Liu RC2 1, 3–5
Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Australia Pedders Suspension Australia Mark Pedder Australia Claire Ryan P RC2 1–4
Australia Dale Moscatt 6
Renault Renault Clio R3 Australia Tom Wilde Australia Bill Hayes RC3 1–2
Australia Anthony McLoughlin 3
Proton Proton Satria Neo Japan Cusco Racing New Zealand Michael Young Australia Erin Kelly RC3 1
Australia Malcolm Read 2–6
Subaru Subaru Impreza WRX STI India Sanjay Takle Malaysia Sean Gregory RC2 1–5

Event calendar and results

The 2014 APRC was as follows:[4]

Round Rally name Podium finishers Statistics
Rank Driver Car Time Stages Length Starters Finishers
1 New Zealand International Rally of Whangarei
(11–13 April)[5] 		1 India Gaurav Gill Škoda Fabia S2000 2:11:39.7 14 220.87 km 48 25
2 New Zealand Richard Mason Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2:11:50.9
3 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:11:51.6
- India Rally of India
(26–27 April) 		event cancelled[6]
2 France Rallye de Nouvelle-Calédonie
(16–18 May)[7] 		1 France Emmanuel Guigou Renault Clio R3 2:08:10.8 17 144.09 km 26 13
2 France Patrick Christian Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2:13:43.8
3 France Claude Clavel Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 2:16:40.1
3 Australia International Rally of Queensland
(20–22 June)[8] 		1 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:20:09.1 15 222.30 km 51 28
2 Australia Scott Pedder Renault Clio R3 2:21:18.4
3 Australia Brendan Reeves Mazda 2 2:23:21.1
4 Malaysia Malaysian Rally
(15–17 August)[9] 		1 India Gaurav Gill Škoda Fabia S2000 3:01:23.2 14 217.40 km 33 30
2 Japan Yuya Sumiyama Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3:12:14.5
3 Australia Mark Pedder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3:14:25.7
5 Japan Rally Hokkaido
(26–28 September)[10] 		1 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:12:29.5 18 222.80 km 25 19
2 Japan Toshihiro Arai Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2:13:11.8
3 Japan Hiroshi Yanagisawa Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2:16:09.2
6 China Rally China Longyou
(7–9 November)[11] 		1 Australia Chris Atkinson Volkswagen Golf SCRC 2:51:56.0 13 230.92 km 110 46
2 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:57:10.3
3 Japan Yuya Sumiyama Subaru Impreza WRX STi 3:01:07.5
- Thailand Thailand Rally
(5–7 December) 		event cancelled[12]

Championship standings

The 2014 APRC for Drivers points was as follows:[3][13]

Pos. Driver Vehicle New Zealand
NZL 		France
NCL 		Australia
AUS 		Malaysia
MAL 		Japan
JPN 		China
CHN 		Total
1 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2 13 1 10 1 14 Ret 7 1 14 1 14 190
2 New Zealand Michael Young Proton Satria Neo 6 4 3 9 5 6 5 5 4 9 2 12 118
3 India Gaurav Gill Škoda Fabia S2000 1 13 2 10 Ret 1 13 Ret Ret 104
4 China Xu Jun Škoda Fabia S2000 5 7 3 10 3 10 2 12 97
5 Australia Mark Pedder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3 10 Ret 7 2 12 2 10 Ret 90
6 India Sanjay Takale Subaru Impreza WRX STi 7 2 Ret 5 6 4 4 7 3 9 68
7 Australia Tom Wilde Renault Clio R3 4 7 Ret 6 4 8 45
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Black Excluded (EX)
Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Cancelled (C)
Blank Withdrew entry from
the event (WD)

Note: 1 – 12 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 New Zealand
NZL 		France
NCL 		Australia
AUS 		Total
1 Czech Republic Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 1 14 1 11 1 14 114
2 New Zealand Michael Young Proton Satria Neo 4 8 2 11 4 4 65
3 Australia Mark Pedder Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 2 12 Ret 7 2 10 65
4 Australia Tom Wilde Renault Clio R3 3 10 Ret 6 3 6 46

Asia Cup

Pos. Driver Vehicle Malaysia
MAL 		Japan
JPN 		China
CHN 		Total
1 Japan Yuya Sumiyama Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2 11 1 14 1 14 107
2 Sri Lanka Dinesh Deheragoda Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 6 3 5 6 2 12 57
3 China Jun Xu Škoda Fabia S2000 3 10 2 12 56
4 India Sanjay Takale Subaru Impreza WRX STi 5 7 3 10 42
5 India Gaurav Gill Škoda Fabia S2000 1 14 Ret Ret 39
6 Japan Tomohide Hasegawa Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 7 3 4 8 29
7 Japan Mitsuhiro Kunisawa Subaru Impreza WRX STi 4 7 19

References

  1. ^ "Kopecky Wins APRC For Team MRF | World News Australian Rally Championship". Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-23.
  2. ^ "Jan Kopecky wins APRC title - The Hindu". The Hindu. 29 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b "2014 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship Points Summary" (PDF).
  4. ^ "2014 Calendar". FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. Retrieved 2014-03-14. [permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com.
  6. ^ "2014 Indian Rally Championship calendar announced". Overdrive.
  7. ^ "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com.
  8. ^ "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com.
  9. ^ "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com.
  10. ^ "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com.
  11. ^ "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com.
  12. ^ "Thailand Round Cancelled". 19 November 2014.
  13. ^ "Classifications | Federation Internationale de l'Automobile". Archived from the original on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-23.