The North Attack Rally is the turning point of the 8 round All Wheel Drive Categories with its start from Yubari city in Hokkaido. It had been given much attention as it may predict the second half of the season, but the rally turned out to be a wild one with many top ranked drivers such as Masafumi Ishida, Norihiko Katsuta, Mitsuo Ayabe, and Fumio Nutahara dropping out from the early stage. Among this mayhem, it was Shigeyuki Konishi and Takuma Kamata who stood out with their performances. The rivalry of two went on until the end of the rally, but Konishi on the Impreza kept the lead and crowned himself with the first victory in All-Japan Rally Championship. This was also the first victory for Impreza this season.

The rally held for two days with 13 Special Stages; had a layout ranging from low-mid speed Japanese style course to high-speed course similar to Acropolis Rally in WRC. The rally turned out to be much tense when Masafumi Ishida damaged the suspension in SS1, Norihiko Katsuta ran off track on SS5, and Mitsuo Ayabe did the same on SS7. Fumio Nutahara who always led the rally withdraw with engine problems in the SS 9, the last stage of day-1.

Among the top rankers dropping out, Shigeyuki Konishi and Takuma Kamata made steady move. They were once teammates fighting in the International rounds. They refer to each other as good rivals and is "someone I don't want to lose from", but today, it was Kamata taking the lead in the 2nd place until SS8 of day-1 while Konishi followed in the 3rd place. But eventually, as the road turned from dry to wet, Konishi managed to put up a good fight in the risky condition. In SS 9, Konishi scored a fabulous time with 16.5 seconds ahead of Kamata, and with Nutahara withdrawing, he boosted from 3rd to the top lead.

When they goaled the leg-1, the gap between them was as small as 5.1 seconds but the remaining leg 2 on the second day is 4 SS and 13.58 km. Konishi went out full might to leg 2 with prospect of victory towards former team mate Kamata. Konishi swiftly drove through the muddy stages in rain, and kept the lead to Kamata all the way. The lead was expanded up to 28.7 seconds, and Konishi finally won the first rally at All-Japan Championship; his long cherished desire. Koji Yanagisawa who scored two second fastest attained 3rd place, which resulted with much of the young drivers fought gamely. Yujiro Nishio did not participate as his entry was not accepted, and Ishida, Nutahara, Katsuta and Ayabe retired, which brings back the championship rally to return to the top. However, as Konishi boosted him to the second place which may make him a center of attention for the second half of the season.

"After leg-1, the gap between Kamata was 5 seconds. As I knew how much this meant from my experience in Kyoto when I got 3rd place just by 1 second, I decided to drive at full might from the very first of leg-2 where I got the best time. You never know what happens in rally, so I have to be in full focus, or I might lose with such small mistakes. I finally got my first victory, but I shouldn't take it for granted towards the next rally. My goals are always set high, so to be honest, yes, I am happy to win."