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Rally Hokkaido, the 4th round of Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and a preliminary skirmish ahead of the WRC Rally Japan, is one of the top national events hotly contested by drivers aiming for the APRC title and top national rallyists. This year s entry list included very strong drivers such as Cody Crocker and Hiroshi Yanagisawa from APRC, Subaru Rally Team Japan s Toshihiro Arai who was in high spirits after being selected to enter Rally Japan in an Impreza WRC 2006, Subaru s latest World Rally Car, and Takuma Kamada who debuted in PSWRC this season. This was the first national event for Arai since claiming the PCWRC title, and a triumphant return, so to speak, for Kamada. Meanwhile Yanagisawa was hoping to gain an edge in the APRC series with a good result in his favorite home event. He was entering this event with a new Impreza. Attention was focused on how the new car would run, and how the battle would unfurl between series leader Cody Crocker and Japanese drivers such as Arai, Kamada and Yanagisawa who are more familiar with the course.

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Although most people have an image of super-high speed, flat dirt stages in Hokkaido, APRC contenders have a slightly different view and evaluate them as a variegated rally route, a combination of twisty, partially-pitted surfaces and flat dirt. Legs 1 and 2 comprise four stages each, and these eight stages are run twice. The surfaces become rougher during the second run and sharp rocks hidden in the ground can cause burst tyres. Good weather was forecast for rally week in the Tokachi district and the route was in dry condition. On Thursday the weather changed for the worse during the recce, but the rain just moistened the road surface. It was cloudy on Saturday, the first race day, and blue skies prevailed on Sunday,

The rally got underway and Kamada was first to take the lead, winning SS1 and SS2 consecutively in front of Arai, who was five seconds behind. But then Arai took first position on SS3 to lead the rally, marking a best time 19 seconds faster than second-placed Kamada. Crocker and Yanagisawa also recorded good times and Imprezas held the top four positions by the end of SS4. On the return stages after SS5, Arai constantly marked the fastest times to build an unassailable lead in the really. At the end of the eight stages of Leg 1, Arai was more than one minute ahead of second-placed Crocker, with Kamada another two seconds behind, and then Yanagisawa 44 seconds behind Kamada.

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Arai never loosened the reins on Leg 2 the next day, scoring a series of best times. The other Impreza drivers also clinched stage wins, such as Kamada on SS10 and 13, Yanagisawa on SS11 and Crocker on the last SS16, but Arai kept the lead to cross the finish line first. His winning margin at Rally Hokkaido was one minute 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Kamada. Toshi and Kamada look in good form ahead of the coming Rally Japan. Crocker took third and Yanagisawa took fourth position. Among the APRC registered drivers, Crocker won and Yanagisawa was runner-up. They scored championship points accordingly, and Crocker kept his position as series leader while Yanagisawa jumped up to fourth place in the series.