Arai will be told to push on Azores restart

Toshi Arai, who is expected to restart the final day of Sata Rallye Açores tomorrow under SupeRally regulations, will do so with the order to push behind the wheel of his Subaru Impreza STI R4.

Arai, from Japan, was in 10th position when he stopped on Friday’s first stage with a suspected electrical fault. Subsequent checks by his team have revealed that the master switch ignition cable became detached.

“The mission is clear for tomorrow – Toshi needs to show the pace of this car,” said a spokesperson for STI.

The STI spokesperson also confirmed the master switch issue had caused Arai to stall when he spun on Thursday night’s Grupo Marques superspecial. A fuel surge problem had initially been reported.

Arai’s team-mate Fumio Nutahara is currently 12th overall.