Thursday, August 15, RATCHABURI-KANCHANABURI

Driving Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART's Triton Chayapon surges to the top of the overall standings!

The route on Day 4 starts from the seaside town of Cha-Am and heads north to Kanchanaburi.

The total distance traveled of 396km is the second longest of this year's rally and the 172km SS included is also the second longest, so it is shaping up to be a surprisingly tough day.

On a day like this, the morning begins early: the two wheels start from the hotel at 5.45am, from where they have a target time of 3 hours 15 minutes before arriving at the start of the SS. 9.05am saw the first car start with a maximum time of 5.5 hours.

If each car completes the SS within that time, they are not penalised and only their running time is added to their total, but the fact that this SS was not going to be an easy one to complete must have been on the minds of the competitors, especially those on two-wheels.

This was not helped by Course Director Pitak at last night's briefing were it was explained that there was a point where there was a continuous rock climb and four-wheelers could not proceed without a winch in case raining.

How could we conquer this point? The fateful SS had indeed begun.

Hellishly gruelling uphill climb

For the motorcyclists, it was a tough day that they will never forget.

The big hill climb appeared 40 km into the SS. All the following bikes, were unable to make the ascend the steep hill and slippery surface and got stuck.

In the high temperatures, many riders, suffered from heat stroke and after picking up their fallen bikes repeatedly trying to get up the hill they collapsed on the spot due to physical exhaustion.

By the time the four-wheeled riders, who started one hour after the two-wheeled riders, arrived, the ‘corpses’ of bikes and riders were lying in piles everywhere on the gully of the mountain where the road was only wide enough for one vehicle.

The four-wheeled drivers, who had all the team's hopes pinned on them, stop to help the riders and took part in the bike rescue operation. Despite their arms being so strained they could no longer use them fully, they continued on.

Of the 19 two-wheeled bikes that started the day, 15 received penalties of more than 10 hours for failing to complete the SS returning late to the liaison time control. This has resulted in a significant impact to their overall time.

Despite this, there were some exceptional drivers who managed to escape from the hellish terrain on their own and get their bikes to the finish line 130km away.

The top time was set by Rudy POA #11 of the Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team on a KTM 350 EXCF. With this, Rudy ranking has climbed from 8th to 4th overall.

The second and third fastest times were set by #3 Shinichi YAMADA and #2 Norihisa MATSUMOTO from Team OTOKONAKI. With this success, YAMADA moves up to the top overall position, while MATSUMOTO moves up to 2nd overall.

Yasubumi SUNAKAWA of #1 Team OTOKONAKI, who was the leader until yesterday, was also penalised for exceeding the maximum time of 14 hours but despite this he remained in 6th place overall.

The top two Japanese riders were followed by three Indonesian riders. Mufti Muis KARIM (Indonesia) #5 of PASAMAN SATU RALLY TEAM is in 3rd place overall, #11 Rudy POA (Indonesia) in 4th place and Habib FADHLURROHMAN (Indonesia) #9 of PASAMAN SATU RALLY TEAM is in 5th place.

The surprising achievement of stage was from the Japanese rider #17, Daiki GOTO, on a Honda Super Cub 90. He has set the 8th fastest time of the day and is in 7th place in the overall standings. This is likely due to excellent human performance rather than the performance of the bike.

Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton

A dazzling dead heat between the Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton!

Today was a successful day for the local Thai teams. 19 of the 20 drivers and navigators were in the first ten places were from Thailand.

After the 172km SS, the longest of the day so far, the time difference between first and second place was an unbelievable 5 seconds.

The two drivers in this fierce battle were Mana, a veteran driver of a Toyota Hilux, and Chayapon, a young and hopeful driver of a Mitsubishi Triton.

These two cars, plus Natthaphon's Hilux, were fully restored yesterday and kept up a competitive pace from the rocky sections in the early stages of the race to the finish line.

As a result, the Hilux of Mana PORNSIRICHERD (Thailand) and Kittisak KLINCHAN (Thailand) of #105 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING THAILAND reached the goal at the top by pushing hard and were not overtaken on the stage.

Mana, a veteran driver who has been challenging as the ace of TGR THAILAND for his long-cherished first win, came across the finish line just 5 seconds ahead of Chayapon, the ace of Mitsubishi who won the 2022 championship.

The #103 Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART of Chayapon YOTHA (Thailand) and Peerapong SOMBUTWONG (Thailand) came in a close second and for the Mitsubishi team aiming to regain the overall victory, this could not have been a better result.

Toyota's Mana was affected by a missed course on the second day and was about 19 minutes behind Chayapon in the overall time.

The Toyota Fortuner of #115 HANAWA, who had been leading until yesterday, suffered more tyre punctures than they had spares. After 3 punctuers on a rock section early in the race, he was forced to retire in 21st place, 1 hour and 23 minutes behind the leader, leaving Chayapon with a huge advantage over the second-place finishers and taking the overall lead.

In third place was the #114 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING THAILAND Toyota Hilux driven by Natthaphon, a “young legend of AXCR” who shows consistent speed over any given course.

In 4th place was the #108 ISUZU SUPHAN EXPLORER LIQUID MOLY RALLY TEAM of Ditsapong MANEEIN (Thailand) and Atikij SRIMONGKHOL (Thailand). In 5th place was last year's 2nd place winner #102 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING Tubagus Adhi MOERINSYAHDI (INDONESIA) and Jatuporn BURAKITPACHAI (THAILAND) of #102 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING, who finished 2nd last year, were in 5th place.

Tubagus Adhi spent some time repairing the oil cooler that was damaged by a hard hit early on the first day but was back in full force on the 4th day and immediately showed his competitiveness with his great times.

TOYOTA GAZOO RACING THAILAND also placed 6th with the #111 team of Jaras JAENGKAMOLKULCHAI (Thailand) and Sinoppong TRAIRAT (Thailand), who have been in good form since entering the second half of the rally. The depth of the driver and co driver is another strength of this team.

As a result, Chayapon YOTHA of Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART took the top overall position, followed by Mana PORNSIRICHERD of TOYOTA GAZOO RACING THAILAND in 2nd place, and ISUZU SUPHAN EXPLORER LIQUID in 3rd place. The fierce three-way battle between Triton, Hilux, and D-MAX has became even more intense.

The other top teams in the rankings were #107 Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART of Katsuhiko TAGUCHI and Takahiro YASUI in 5th overall position, #115 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING INDONESIA of Ikuo HANAWA and Hirokazu SOMEMIYA in 7th and the #101 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING INDONESIA team of Takuma AOKI, Ittipon SIMARAKS (Thailand) and Songwut DANPHIPHATTRAKOON (Thailand), who won last year, are in 10th place and competing in the unmodified category for production cars this year.

In the rocky section at the beginning of the race, many cars were unable to climb the hill, had punctured their tyres or damaged their cars. On the steep descent, the Suzuki Jimny of #136 Asian Rally Team's Roslyn SHEN (Taiwan) and Nada SIMARAKS (Thailand) was rolled and landed upside down.

Fortunately, the female duo of Roslyn and Nada were not seriously injured, but the front end of the Jimny's roof was dented and the windshield was so badly damaged that it was deemed difficult to drive the car due to limited visibility.

Roslyn and Nada thanked the many riders who came to their rescue, and we would like to share their words of appreciation with you here.

“We Roslyn and Nada would like to thank everyone for their help and support. Thank you very much. Especially, Yi Wen CHEN of #146 i TAIWAN Rally team and Memen HARIANTO of #116 Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team, I can't thank them enough. Our Jimny is fortunately able to drive under it’s own power. It was built by the students of Chuo Automobile College in Japan, and they are working hard to fix it tonight. We will not give up on the rally and will bring Jimmy to the finish line, so please continue to support us!”

The rally is now entering the second half of the event. The fatigue of the drivers and vehicles must be quite high - but the fatigue of the service staff, who have been working late into the night for daily maintenance and frequent repairs, has also reached its peak.

Tomorrow's LEG5 will be the longest SS of this year's rally, covering 230km. Which teams will finish the SS and which teams will be eliminated? And which team will lead the pack to the finish line? The 2024 Asia Cross Country Rally is about to reach its climax.

(Photo: Manabu TAKAHASHI, Text: Dai KAWAMURA)