Only a week after the APRC Rd. 4 in Obihiro, the round 6 of All Japan Rally Championship - All Wheel Drive division was held in the outskirts of Otaru city, on the same island of Hokkaido. As there was only one week interval, drivers like Norihiko Katsuta and Hiroshi Yanagisawa who remained on the island to prepare for the JRC and including those who joined from APRC, there was total of 19 entries in Class C (with 8 Imprezas). The weather was clear to cloudy, with sometime light shower. And under such superb weather condition, the highlight of the rally this week was the longest SS in JRC with 19.85 km. The first day, Shigeyuki Konishi leaped in to the 2nd place with his good performance in this long SS. However, he had to pull off with mechanical problems at the same SS on the second day, having him give up on his second JRC victory. Among the Imprezas, Mitsuo Ayabe was ranked highest with the 5th finish this week.

For the teams of Impreza, whose series ranking so far has been 3rd for Yujiro Nishio, 4th for Shigeyuki Konishi and 5th for Norihiko Katsuta, this round can never be dismissed when considering the last 2 rounds left this season. Whoever wins here for their second victory will have greater advantage among others looking at the remaining rounds.

This rally; all graveled 14 SS with 3 long ones, Konishi was the first to score the best timing. He was ranked 2nd after Fumio Nutahara with only 20 seconds behind by the time 5 SS was completed of leg 1. At the second half of leg 1, many drivers such as Yujiro Nishio, Masayuki Ishida and Takuma Kamata had problems in the long SS. Even Nutahara had to lose some time with the dust from the car ahead of him. This became a great advantage for Konishi, where he successfully accomplished to shorten the gap to 5.9 seconds to start leg 2.

The next day, although Konishi bravely challenge Nutahara, he lost time on the third long SS with mechanical problems. He entertained the audience with drifting but finished the rally with 11th. It was the long SS that brought down many of the Impreza and Lancers to retire including Katsuta. Among the Imprezas, Ayabe, finished in 5th was the best result.

The round 7 "Monterey" will be held from September 28 to 29, the tarmac SS near Akagiyama in Gunma prefecture. Now facing the end of the season, JRC is looking at its crucial moments with heated competition of who will win the title.

"After we fixed the car which had problems in the beginning, the car gradually improved from SS to SS. I feel I have enough experience to improve the position gradually. The last challenge was the one and only chance for me to get 5th place. It was the rough track surface of the long SS, which divided the results. One mistake really screwed up everything."