Possum Bourne in his Subaru won the 2000 Rally of Malaysia and in doing so became the 2000 Asia Pacific Rally Champion with one event to go. Last year’s APRC champion Katasuhiko Taguchi went out of the event, while leading, with engine damage to his Mitsubishi Lancer – a symptom of the very rough and hot conditions.

Bourne dominated the final leg of Rally of Malaysia 2000 to win the event by a margin of 4minutes 53seconds over APRC rival Karamjit Singh of Malaysia. The 17 championship points earned in Malaysia gives Bourne’s Caltex Havoline Subaru team total of 61 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) points, an achievement which guarantees the team the championship title with one event to spare.

“What a great day!” enthused Possum at the finish in Malaysia’s Merdeka Square. “The car was performing brilliantly, the weather was superb, and Stace [co-driver Mark Stacey] and I were really pumped up by all the supporters who turned out in force once again. We had a reasonable margin built up from yesterday which took some of the pressure off us, so we basically had a lot of fun out there today.”

Karamjit Singh driving a Proton Pert wrapped up the APRC Group N title with second overall and first in Group N, ‘now we can go to Thailand (27-29 Oct) and have some fun’ commented Singh at the finish.