Possum Bourne overcame mechanical problems on the third leg of Rally of Canberra to take his second consecutive win on the event, the opening round of the Asia Pacific Championship.

The New Zealander held a lead of over a minute going into the five stage final leg, but then on the first stage a broken drive-shaft on the Impreza cost time and a big spin on the next saw him drop 79 seconds to the fastest man, Neal Bates.

The Toyota driver was fastest on both the opening stages of the last day, and moved into second ahead of Cody Crocker who won the Group N category with Italian Nico Caldarola second. Malaysian Karamjit Singh had problems through the event with punctures and brakes, but 6th overall and 4th in Group N.

Other APRC contenders John Lloyd from the UK finished in 12th position in a Mitsubishi Lancer while Monster Tajima had a DNF in the new Suzuki Ignis Super 1600, however he completed the final leg for testing purposes.

The Asia Pacific Rally Championship moves to the beautiful tropical island of New Caledonia for the 2nd round 1-3 June.