Asia

Qatar International Rally

This time, the Qatari rally is more exciting than usual. In the past, the bet was worth either of the second place winner or the number of minutes Nasser Al-Attiyah would beat his nearest opponent. And in history, the number of those minutes ranged from one to 15. So it’s no wonder that this year it was the fifteenth victory of a Qatari in his home – Qatar International Rally

MCA Capriccio ’20

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Vilius Šaltenis 2020 Asia Japan Weekly post's

Although MCA Capriccio is more reminiscent of the name of some Italian racing team, it is actually the last rally to take place before the cancelation and postponements of all races. Drivers and drivers chased the cars on March 22, a week after the Mexican event of the WRC, which had already received ambiguous comments about its going in a global quarantine context. So the author of this text has nothing left but to grab the dictionary of the Japanese language and delve deeper into those who dared to start the engines at the starting line.

Dyteris Manfredas Gocentas (Fred Gocentas)

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Vilius Šaltenis 2020 Asia Lithuania Story

There quite a number of rally masters born or raised in Lithuania. And most of them are known for Lithuanians. But there is one Lithuanian surname that is well known in the World Rally Community, especially in Australia, and vice versa in Lithuania. Fred Gocentas.

Sammy Yokote Rally ’19

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Vilius Šaltenis 2019 Asia Japan Weekly post's

Legendary Japanese rally master, two-time Production WRC and multiple-time national champion, Toshihiro Arai is approaching a beautiful anniversary. At the Sammy Yokote Rally, Toshi celebrated the 180th rally start. Although the man will be 53 years old at Christmas, Toshi is unlikely to stop before he reaches the 200 starts. The number 180 is impressive, but what really turns T. Arai into a special person in the rally world – all the events up to one was started with cars that had the same swarm of stars on their hoods. In the Japanese language – that swarm is called Subaru. For 24 years, Toshi has been driving a variety of models on the rally roads, from the old Subaru Impreza GT to the Subaru Impreza S12 WRC. The only place where Arai has issued a Subaru badge is the start of the WTCC event in Japan with Chevrolet.

Rally of South Canterbury ’19

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Vilius Šaltenis 2019 Asia New Zealand Weekly post's

A month ago, on a southern New Zealand island, a 4th rally championship event happened. Near 200 kilometers of dusty roads were ready to be tackled by crews mostly from New Zealand. Between a few R5’s and many various years Mitsubishi Lancer Evo’s and Subaru Impreza’s, there are AP4 class cars. They are like “Proto” in the Baltic region, N5 – in Spain or MRT in South America. The body varies from Škoda Fabia to Mazda 2 or Holden Barina, but the main parts are the same.