Ralliart-supported Japanese driver Katsuhiko Taguchi and co-driver Mark Stacey (Australia) will take part in the 2007 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) as part of Team MRF Tyre.

The team is planning to tackle all seven rounds of the championship, although Taguchi is scheduled to take part in six of the events and will miss the second round. The pair will use a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution with support from the MRF Corporation, India?fs largest tyre manufacturer.

The car will run on the company’s tyres and the team will also receive support from co-sponsor PIAA, with the Mitsubishi using valves, fog lights and windscreen wipers supplied by PIAA Co. Ltd.

The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship began in 1988 and is one of four major rally championships established by the sport’s governing body, the Féderation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). This year will mark the championship?fs 20th anniversary.

Mitsubishi have achieved seven championship titles in that time, a feat not matched by any other car manufacturer. Only registered drivers will be permitted to tackle the 2007 APRC and points amassed from six events will count towards the overall championship classification.

Following Armin Kremer’s (Germany) championship title in 2003, Team MRF Tyre has won the APRC twice in four years. In 2007, three crews will challenge for the overall title, with Taguchi/Stacey being joined by Jussi Valimäki/Jarkko Kalliolepo (Finland) and the Indian driver Gaurav Gill and a yet-to-be-decided co-driver. All three teams will take part in Group N versions of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

Team MRF Tyre will benefit from the experience of both Taguchi and Valimäki, who clinched the 2005 APRC Group N championship title with Kalliolepo. Last season the Finn was supported by MMSP, the motorsport arm of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, which entered a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC05 in three rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship. Mitsubishi finished a superb fifth overall in the punishing seventh round in Sardinia.

Valimäki gained considerable experience from his WRC exploits and this should make him an ideal team mate and rival for Taguchi. The 2007 season will kick-start an exciting new challenge for the talented 25-year-old Indian newcomer Gaurav Gill. With backing from MRF, Gill holds the hopes of an expectant nation on his debut in the international rally series. He has tackled Indian rallies and select formula race events in the past.

Katsuhiko Taguchi Comment
"I am very glad that I can again be a member of Team MRF Tyre this year. During the middle of the 2006 season, I was battling for the championship. But, in the second half, my pace slowed and I ended the series in third place. This year I am filled with the desire to get back on the pace and I definitely will."

"During the Dakar Rally I acted as support driver for the new Delica D-5, where I learned a lot about strategy as a member of the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation works team. In addition, I was able to do a lot of both physical and mental training. I feel very assured to have Valimäki as a team mate but, at the same time, he is also a formidable rival. I hope to give it my best and ultimately take the championship this time."

Katsuhiko Taguchi - Main Results
1999 APRC Champion, Group N champion
2000 WRC Rally Australia - 11th overall (Group A)
2004 APRC China Rally - Overall victory
2005 APRC Rally Hokkaido - Overall victory
2006 APRC Rally New Caledonia - Overall victory

2007 APRC calendar
Round 1 Rallye de Nouvelle Caledonie 13-15 April
Round 2 Hella International Rally of Whangarei 11-13 May
Round 3 Rally of Canberra 1-3 June
Round 4 Rally Hokkaido 6-8 July
Round 5 Malaysian Rally 10-12 August
Round 6 Gudang Garam International Rally Indonesia 7-9 September
Round 7 China Rally 11-13 November

Past APRC Championship winners
Drivers
1988 Kenjiro Shinozuka (Japan) Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1991 Ross Dunkerton (Australia) Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1992 Ross Dunkerton (Australia) Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1995 Kenneth Eriksson (Sweden) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III
1999 Katsuhiko Taguchi (Japan) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI
2003 Armin Kremer (Germany) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII
2005 Jussi Valimäki (Finland) Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII