Notes from Day 1 of APRC Rally Hokkaido:

Mohammed Rafiq out on stage 1 with engine problems.

Yayu Sumiyama is slowed by a rock in brake caliper, with no brakes and he looses 2 minutes

Alister McRae slowed in SS3 by two punctures and has to use one of those deflated tyres for SS4..

Katsu Taguchi has a puncture in SS5 and looses 20 seconds.

Chris Atkinson has an engine problem at beginning of stage 5 and retires.

Alister McRae hits a huge rock in same stage, breaking the sump and retires.

Gill heads into the last stages with 28 second lead, but suffers diff problems on the superspecial.

After Stage 11 (final stage of day 1) Gill leads APRC by 5.1 secs from his team-mate Taguchi.

Cusco’s Horishi Yanagisawa is 8. 4 seconds back in 3rd. Yuya Sumiyama is 4th nearly three minutes behind the leader.
Toshi Arai leads the event overall by 1 minutes and 20.9 seconds.

Proton will return on Day 2 under super-rally.