Japanese driver Toshi Arai walked home the winner of the Hokkaido Rally, even though this year he was not contesting the APRC series. His previously unlucky Impreza N14 survived very mixed weather conditions. Reigning champion Cody Crocker fought back after a disastrous first day to finish fifth overall, fourth in the championship category which was won by Katsu Taguchi, whose Mitsubishi was the only top placed non-Subaru car.

No sooner had the world G8 finished than Hokkaido was back in the news again, this time as the venue for Japan's Asia Pacific event, run out of the old Rally Japan headquarters town of Obihiro, famous for its long road sections.... Heavy rains caused two of the first day stages to be cancelled, a zero car blocking the route cause another to be abandoned, and drivers running further back generally had the advantage. These included non championship driver Toshi Arai and Hiroshi Yanagisawa. Arai led from the start pursued in turn by front runners APRC contenders Cody Crocker and Katsu Taguchi. When the first day's rallying was eventually stopped, Yanagisawa. was lying second and top contender.

Early casualty was Scott Pedder whose Mitsubishi had gearbox trouble, while Subaru drivers Kamada (N14) and Sumiyama (N12) both crashed too heavily to be able to carry on. The weather on Day 2 had completely changed and the flooded service park was only a memory. Indian Pirelli Star Driver candidate driver Gaurav Gill was lying fourth when his Mitsubishi's transmission failed, while Taguchi restarted some 21.7 seconds behind Yanagisawa and eventually caught him with three stages to go.

3mmm
photo 1: Subaru - Arai
photo 2: Mitsubishi - Taguchi

Rally Hokkaido 2008
1* Arai/MacNeall         Subaru Impreza N14       1h46m25.6s
2  Taguchi/Stacey        Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 1h47m51.1s
3  Yanagisawa/Nakahara   Subaru Impreza N12       1h47m53.4s
4  Herridge/Murphy       Subaru Impreza N12       1h48m56.9s
5  Crocker/Atkinson      Subaru Impreza N12       1h49m16.7s
6  Iizuma/Tsuyuki        Subaru Impreza N12       1h51m40.9s

Overall Asia Pacific Championship (APRC) after 4 rounds of 7: Taguchi 43p; Crocker 40p, Herridge 32p; Yanagisawa 22p; Green 13p; Pedder 12p; Sungkar 12p; Gil 2p.