The sight of cars blazing through the palm estates at speed and charging through a very narrow gravel road are always both fascinating and scary. Yup, the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) is in town for the 5th round of the championship.
Coming here leading the championship, Cody Crocker (above) dominates again in style, leading from Day 1. His closest competitor, Katsu Taguchi in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 followed closely in 2nd before a mistake in Special Stage 7 (SS7) forced him to retire. Heavy rain early in the morning had made the Stages very slippery and more challenging for the competitors as Taguchi was among the victims... [read more]
Both Gaurav Gill (bottom) and Karamjit Singh retired earlier after failing to complete SS2. Gaurav’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 had mechanical problems and Karamjit (top) put the Proton Satria Neo S2000 into a ditch and had to be towed out. Crocker's team mate Emma Gilmour, took advantage from other's retirement to finish 2nd.
From a spectator's viewpoint, the differences between the driver's approach is the most intriguing aspect. Cody Crocker is very aggressive when he attacks a bend, sliding and oversteering while controlling the car superbly, hitting the throttle quite early as the car hits the apex.
Emma Gilmour takes a more measured approach, concentrating more on the braking, with less sliding and oversteer, getting on the throttle smoothly as she exits the corner so that she doesn't have to fight the car
too much.
Being a rally driver is far from the glamourous nature of track racing, where drivers just park their car on the grid as pit babes hold umbrellas above them, and then off to a formation lap and get on with the race until the end. Rally drivers have to drive their car from the service centre to a designated Special Stages (SS) which is sometimes more than 10 km away using the public road, while observing all the traffic law, and they have to arrive in time.
Any infringement or tickets from the police will result in a penalty. After completing the Special Stages, it's off to the public road again to another Special Stages or the service centre. No escort, no special treatment. Nothing. No air conditioning, racing suits, boots and gloves on. Imagine doing that in the heat of the day, in a country that is well known for it's
hot climate, Malaysia.
As Day 2 resumed, Crocker cruised to a comfortable victory and extend his lead in the championship over Taguchi, who retired early in the day when he ditched his car causing irrepairable damage.
Emma Gilmour took 2nd to complete a 1-2 finish for Motor Image Racing Team, while Rifat Sungkar (above) of the Pertamina Prima XP Rally Team took 3rd.
For more photos from the APRC-ANCOM Malaysian Rally, click here
Photo/Editorial: Anas Zakaria
Oh man. Wonderful stuff! Incredible photos.
ReplyDeleteFantastic coverage! Keep it up!!
ReplyDeleteI love the contrast of colors in these photos! The lush scenery with the bright red cars making their way through the course! Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThis photographer needs his face pounded in really hard.
ReplyDelete