Round 6 of the 2011 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) “China Rally Longyou” was held over the weekend of November 4th in Longyou city Zhejiang, China. Team Carrosser were represented by Rifat Sungkar / Scott Beckwith and Yuya Sumiyama / Naoki Kase teams each in the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, where the Sumiyama / Kase team aspired for the Asia Cup Title.

Throughout the season, CUSCO constructed and campaigned the PROTON Satria Neo group N. rally car and officially entered the series as the PROTON CUSCO Rally Team, wrapping up the season with outstanding results. The success consisted of three titles in the PROTON vehicles, the Junior Cup, Driver’s Cup, and the Co-Driver’s title in the 2WD Championship class. 

In this season finale event, two PROTON Satria Neo machines were entered into competition piloted by the Japanese rising stars Akira Bamba & Takahiro Yasui, and the 3 time APRC champions Karamjit Singh (Malaysia) & Vivek Ponnsusamy (India). Both groups had equal and high prospects for the 2WD championship title which further stirred up the intensity between each and every competitor.  

Similar to the previous year but with increased paved surfaces, the China stage consisted of a variation between gravel and tarmac road surfaces. The rally made its ceremonial start on the 4^th of November, followed by the single run of the Super SS and the official competition starting the following day. Comprised of two laps in three stages for a total of 13SS / 231.40km runs, the slippery Longyou tarmac surface made it extremely challenging for each runner.

Rainfall made the conditions even more difficult, with teams scrambling to change tires and adjust the machine settings for optimal performance. For the very first time in their career, Sungkar’s team was inundated with a flat tire quandary after miscalculating the SS1 line, inflicting front tire damage. This set the team back over 4 minutes and managed to finish 5^th in the APRC but only after experiencing another flat tire in the later stage. Favorably, Sumiyama on the other hand finished 4^th in the APRC and 2^nd in the Asia Cup.  

Nevertheless, the race wasn’t at all an easy task for Sumiyama, as he faced turbocharger complications at the Leg2 section directly before the SS8 finish line but somehow managed to finish with 6 minutes of lost time. The CUSCO team mechanics remained in hustle mode taking care of all the team members where swift repairs were necessary; replacing Sumiyama’s turbocharger, Sungkar’s brake rotors, and Bamba’s lower arm in no time. Sungkar finished 3^rd behind McRae and Atkinson, where as Sumiyama placed 5^th overall and 2^nd in the Asia cup. His goal of taking the top place in the Asia cup could not be achieved but an overall 2^nd place was confirmed due to his high point standings.  

Bamba, who was eager to defeat the Malaysian giant and gain his very first 2WD victory exhibited spectacular performance and finished Leg 1 in the top ranks amongst the 2WD class. His 35 second lead over Singh which seemed like a secure win, however Bamba encountered brake issues which he was penalized 2 min 30 sec due to arriving 15 minutes late trying to resolve the issue. Bamba concluded the season just shy of the 2WD victory however his season proved to be fruitful, debuting in the PROTON vehicle and finishing all races without any retirement. Moreover, the rookie Akira Bamba was crowned the APRC Junior Cup champion with the Satria Neo.

Singh took victory of the 2WD class title in this event and brought the 2WD title to the CUSCO built Satria Neo group N machine. The 2WD Co-Driver title went to Bamba’s partner Takahiro Yasui, distributing all three coveted titles to the PROTON CUSCO Rally Team.

Thank you all for your loyal support and an invigorating and successful season from the CUSCO Rally Team.

Round 8 and the final round of 2011 Japanese Rally Championship “Shinshiro Rally” was held from 21-23 October around Shinshiro city, Aichi-prefecture, approximately 280km west from Tokyo. On the rally, total 64.22km, 12 tarmac stages were consisted. Cusco Racing brought CUSCO ADVAN EVO. X driven by Hiroshi Yanagisawa who recently marked his first ever overall victory in the series at previous round, Rally Hokkaido with his co-driver, Yoshimasa Nakahara. Also FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) contender and Pertamina CUSCO Racing’s driver, Indonesian Rifat Sungkar attended this national round in Japan with Group N spec PROTON Satria Neo occasionally. For Sungkar, usually driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X at APRC round, it was first ever experience to competing proper tarmac rally. For this opportunity, Cusco Racing’s driver Yuya Sumiyama’s regular co-driver, Naoki Kase was teamed up with the 8 times Indonesian champion.
 

This is not only an outstanding tarmac rally of the series, but also really popular event among spectators with so many activities available over the weekend, which has been rated high from drivers as well. However, unfortunately, the rally area saw autumn rain from before the start. The first day of the competition also had full wet condition that led number of accidents. Yanagisawa also couldn’t avoid drama and became the victim of the condition when he lost his rhythm on the left corner on SS2 and his machine hit to the lock heavily. Fortunately both crew weren’t injured, however their machine was too damaged and withdrawn from the event.

Sungkar, who was trying on his first tarmac rally in wet condition with unfamiliar machine, also was off the course on SS3. Nevertheless his machine had no serious damage which arrowed him to restart on second day. Attending foreign driver in Japanese championship was relatively rare in its tradition, and as holding Indonesian license, Sungkar was unable to obtain any championship point on this event. However welcoming top contender of FIA series from overseas to national round was exactly epoch-making for the nation. As Cusco built PROTON Satria Neo had been showing superb potential through its debut season in the country, driving Japanese stages by top APRC contender from Indonesia brought a number of Japanese spectators to their feet.

CUSCO Marked Perfect Weekend
with Yanagi’s His First Ever Overall Victory in Japan Series,

Sumiyama: 3^rd in APRC ,
Bamba; Crowned Junior Title and Muta Wins JN3 Class!

Round 5 of 2011 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship(APRC) also Round 7 of Japanese Rally Championship, “Rally Hokkaido” was held from 30　September -2 October around Obihiro-city, Hokkaido, North part of Japan. To the only international event this year in this country, Cusco brought massive 9 cars to run. On the service park in Kita-Aikoku, team built huge space with tying tent for nine cars which brought the service park extra energy

In APRC category, Rifat Sungkar(Indonesia)/Scott Beckwith(Australia) tackled main series for Pertamina CUSCO Racing in CUSCO built Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. His teammate and 2010 Asia-cup Champion, Yuya Sumiyama/Naoki Kase returned home event triumphantly. Malaysian legend Karamjit Singh and Indian Vivek Ponnusamy, Akira Bamba/Takahiro Yasui , both crew drove PROTON Satria Neo(Group N spec) for PROTON CUSCO Racing. The battle between the young driver vs veteran using identical machine gathered many eyes through this event. Also New Zealander and at the age of 18, Michael Young , co-driven by Daniel Willson joined the team as customer entrant.

	Kita Aikoku service park	Ceremonial start

Rifat Sungkar	Rifat Sungkar / Scott Beckwith Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.X	Michael Young / Daniel Willson Satria Neo PROTON Satria Neo

Meanwhile, in national championship division, Hiroshi Yanagisawa/Yoshimasa Nakahara in Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and Shuhei Muta/Hajime Hoshino in PROTON Satria Neo(Group N) appeared as fifth time in actual national competition. Along the CUSCO Racing’s drivers, satellite team Wellpine Motorsport brought two of Satria Neo for young crews; Shintaro Meiji/Ayumi Urushido and Hisashi Suzuki/Norimasa Yamagishi. 

On this 10th edition of the event, popular short stage in Rikubetsu Circuit had some amendment with adding short tarmac section. On this first competition day, there were set three run of the longest stage of the event with the length 28.41km. Having long straight with expected to reach 200km/h in some place which required accurate pace noting and gaining proper rhythm, the stage was regarded as the most crucial point. The event was kicked off by the first run of Super SS at adjacent Service park in Kita-Aikoku. On 1st October, the route was consisted by 10SS followed another 8SS in following day which formed total 19SS/222.89km competitive stages.

Shuhei Muta / Hajime Hoshino PROTON Satria Neo		Hiroshi Yanagisawa / Yoshimasa Nkahara Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.X

As APRC series had only two rounds remaining before the start, and championship leader Chris Atkinson had some chance to secure the title at this event, it was expected that all drivers would push in maximum from the rally start. Sumiyama set sixth fastest time on the first run of the longest stage which cut in more modified machines such as S2000 or R4 spec. He had the moment when he hit his Lancer Evolution X’s left front, however finished the day in 5th overall and 4th in Asia cup. In other hand, Sungkar who had only limited experience on fast and narrow stages in Japan struggled to find the rhythm. Nevertheless he finished the day in 7th overall and 4th in APRC. By Satria Neos, Bamba made good start and stood on class leader which prompted Singh to switch serious-mode. The Malaysian giant snatched the class lead from Bamba on SS3 and started to pulling Bamba away, however Bamba also tried to keep the gap as small as possible. With giving plenty of cautious to the multiple APRC champion, Bamba finished the day making 1-2 form in 2WD category although he was built 41 seconds gap.

Yuya Sumiyama / Naoki Kase Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.X	Akira Bamba / Takahiro Yasui PROTON Satria Neo	Karamjit Singh / Vivek Ponnsusamy PROTON Satria Neo

In the battle of National championship, Yanagisawa was showing brilliant speed using five years experience in APRC effectively. He became rally leader on SS2 and clinched number of stage victories which pulled his rivals away. After Fumio Nutahara who was running in 2nd place off the course sensationally, Yanagisawa gained massive 57.8 seconds gap in only the first leg. Satria Neos also made good battle with their class rivals who had bigger engine due to unique class dividing of the country. Muta stood in class leader on SS6 and built 1 minute and 15 seconds gap after several withdrawal within rivals.

Hiroshi Yanagisawa / Yoshimasa Nkahara Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.X	Shuhei Muta / Hajime Hoshino PROTON Satria Neo

The Leg2 on 2nd October, the first car started the first stage of the day in 0557hrs and planned to finish on 1700 which putted crews another long day. In APRC, the battle for 2nd was getting more fierce. In such a tensed situation, Sumiyama kept stable performance and netting second fastest time four times. He eventually finished in 4th overall and 3rd in Asia cup. However for Sungkar, it was endurance rally, nevertheless he managed to take his machine to finish the survival rally with number of retirement including series leader. Sungkar finished the Japanese round in 5th overall and 3rd in APRC. Meanwhile, the battle of Satria Neos drivers between Singh and Bamba was continuing in the day too. Their individual total time of the day was surprisingly identical by tenth of second. Singh eventually hold his lead from leg1 and won the 2WD category. Battling with the veteran and earning valuable experience, Bamba finished in 2nd in 2WD and was officially announced as maiden Junior Cup champion which he secured in previous round in Whangarei.

Karamjit Singh / Vivek Ponnsusamy	Akira Bamba / Takahiro Yasui	Yuya Sumiyama / Naoki Kase

In National championship, Yanagisawa who had huge lead kept unbeatable speed in the second day as well. He extended his lead to 1minute and 16seconds eventually and gained his long-waited first overall in his career through both APRC and National championship. In JN3 class, Muta also hold his huge lead from leg 1 and gained his first victory in the series which brought Satria Neo second victory in a row.

Hiroshi Yanagisawa / Yoshimasa Nakahara	Yanagisawa & Ngase Team Manager
Shuhei Muta / Hajime Hoshino	Shuhei Muta

The final round of APRC, “China Rally Longyou”(Gravel and Tarmac) will be held from 4-6 November around Zhejiang Province, China while the season closing for Japanese Rally Championship will be “Shinshiro-Rally”(Tarmac) which will be held from 21-23 October at Aichi.