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The 2006 Cyprus Rally will be remembered by the fans for its spectacular final day where they had the opportunity to get up close to the cars and drivers as they tore through the old town of Limassol in the Down Town Spectator stage, where it is estimated that tens of thousands of fans gathered. The other four regular stages were also heavily lined with spectators.

The final day of competition dawned in bright sunshine, the crews ready to tackle the six stages set on this final day.

The opening test, SS17, the Vavatsinia 1 stage, was the early part of the day's longest at 25.23 kilometres. Drivers were faced with more of the same; sharp, rocky ground with lots of opportunities for punctures. This continued with two shorter tests, at 12 and 8 kilometres respectively, before the cars headed back to Limassol for the Down Town stage. The day would end with two more tests; a second run through the day's first two stages.

The leader board didn't change throughout the morning - or for that matter, the entire day. With the gaps between drivers having already been set on the earlier legs, only a major off or retirement would now cause a change.

Continuing on from his rapid form on leg two, Toshi Arai won every single stage of competition today. The first three tests of the morning were a trio where SUBARU drivers Arai and Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah set the pace, well ahead of their rivals.

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After four competitive stages run, (SS20 was not cancelled due to lack of guarantee of safety, and SS21 was not run competitively because of confusing of its itinerary due to the incident at SS20), Aki Teiskonen was the top SUBARU runner, scoring second place, nearly two minutes ahead of third-placed Khalid Al Qassimi, also in a spec C IMPREZA.

When asked how he feels about this slow-paced, technical event as opposed to a more open, fast-flowing rally, Aki Teiskonen commented: "My favourite type of rally is the faster type - like Australia or New Zealand. I think we can go well in NZ, it's very similar to Finland and I think we can go really show some pace there. Second place here is not too bad, I made no mistakes this weekend and our drive has earned eight championship points."

Behind him, Dubai's Khalid Al Qassimi was third after a similarly measured drive to Teiskonen's, continuing his solid performance through the last test of the rally.

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah took fifth place after his off yesterday which saw the Qatari driver forced onto SupeRally for the first time this year. His pace all day was remarkably strong, only he and Toshi Arai able to set and maintain such a rate of speed on these final tests.

Although leg one's off meant that he couldn't fight with the others further up the order, Japan's Toshi Arai was blindingly quick on all of today's tests, ending the last day of competition with a seven-minute bite taken out of Fumio Nutahara's overall time during the course of these final two days.

The crews now get prepared for the penultimate round of the season in five weeks' time, Rally Australia where more dry and hot surfaces await competitors - though it will be much faster-paced event than this weekend.

George Donaldson - STI Group N Project General Manager:
"It's been a funny old weekend for us really. In one way disappointing, in another way, we've consolidated our championship position with Nasser. Disappointing the problems we've faced - but we won't go into that again. The championship fight is looking like it's going to go down to the last event, depending of course, on what happens in Australia. There are still a number of tactical opportunities in the championship too numerous to mention! We're in a situation where Aki Tesikonen could still end up the winner. Aki Teiskonen and Mirco Baldacci are two possibilities for the title - and Toshi's in there with a chance as well. So, there are five possible winners, including current points' leaders Nasser Al Attiyah and Fumio Nutahara.

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"I'm sure Nutahara will come away from Australia with some points, and that will mean a close and decisive last event in New Zealand. It's going to come down to the wire this year.

"Obviously it's been very disappointing for Toshi Arai this weekend, but he's still in there with some sort of chance for the series - what a shock! So it's all to do.

"Aki pulled the result here in Cyprus out of fresh air really. And it was also a great result from Khalid Al Qassimi. It was great to meet him, and great to see him here. We hope he's got a real taste for doing this for next year and hopefully we'll see him out in a team next year.

"I'm really looking forward to Australia, and although Nasser is absent we have such a fantastic array of SUBARU drivers, they could block out points for Fumio, gaining Nasser some breathing space for the last event. It's going to be a heck of a weekend in Perth for the PCWRC teams."