Leg2 - October, 20 2002

The Leg2 of The 20th V-RALLY International Japanese Alpine Rally (further referred as Japanese Alpine Rally) was held on Sunday, October 20 with 12 Special Stages with total rally distance of 65.64 km. Many fans and spectators cheered despite of the rainy weather, and as Toshihiro Arai repaid with his second consecutive victory, Possum Bourne followed to finish in 2nd place. The weather was not exactly blessed, but was a rewarding 3 days for both fans and the drivers.

With short rally distance and almost 3 minutes lead after Leg1. Now, what would be the motivation for Arai, who already sees the consecutive victory in his view? How much speed can be pursued under intensive rainy condition? Or to impress to the audience the performance of Impreza WRC2002? Of course all of these are important. But Arai had more important mission. That was to convey the "fun of rally". Motor sport is a competition of technique of driving and technology of the vehicle. But you can never leave out the entertaining aspect of it. Therefore, utilizing his experience from WRC, Arai had set his theme of Leg2 to broaden the range of audience and fans.

"The audience were on my mind, but instead of flamboyant performance, I hope they capture the real attraction of rally." (Toshihiro Arai)

Arai scored best time at all stage of Leg2 to accomplish two consecutive victories in Japanese Alpine Rally. The cheer and applause he received on the podium proved he had also accomplished his task and mission.

The course was difficult and the condition had worsened. It was a very tough situation for Bourne's challenge to the tarmac rally. He managed to finish the slippery course in 2nd place.

"It was difficult. But if I have more chance to drive tarmac the next time, I think I can do much better." (by Bourne)

Many STI supported drivers entered this Japanese Alpine Rally, and on Impreza; Yujiro Nishio finished 4th, Norihiko Katsuta finished 5th, Hiroshi Yanagisawa finished 6th and Yuya Sumiyama finished 9th. All in the quite favorable positions. To add, the motor journalist Mitsuhiro Kunisawa retired on the final stage. But for once, he reached 15th place, and his aggressive drive was worth praise.

Now that The Japanese Alpine Rally is over, the season is reaching its end. WRC will start the next round from Thursday, October 31st with Round 13, Australia. Both Arai and Bourne enter the event.