Prokop plans to strike it big in Japan

It will be a case of quality rather than quantity when the Super 2000 World Rally Championship resumes in Japan this week.

Three of the S-WRC regulars will be in action on the Sapporo-based event with Martin Prokop poised to move into the lead of the title race in his Ford Fiesta S2000.

The Czech driver is currently in third place in the championship standings after making five appearances so far this season. With pacesetter Xevi Pons one of several drivers who has not nominated Rally Japan as one of his scoring events, Prokop will draw level with Pons if he finishes second.

However, if he takes the maximum 25 points for winning the category, then Prokop will climb to the top of the table and take a seven-point lead over the Spaniard, who also drives a Fiesta, with two rounds remaining.

Prokop has finished on the S-WRC podium on three occasions this year and was only 4.7s adrift of winning his class on Rallye Deutschland last month only to lose out on victory to Patrik Sandell in a Skoda Fabia. Prokop has never competed in Japan before although co-driver Jan Tomanek rallied in the country in 2005 alongside Roman Kresta in a works Ford Focus when Japan’s world championship qualifier was based in Obihiro.

“I really need to score points at this event,” said Prokop. “The championship has started to get very tight and it’s now very important that I finish first or second in Japan. I know that Jari [Ketomaa] wants to score points as much as I do so it could be a close battle between the two of us over the weekend. It’s really just a question of how much risk to take. I am desperate for a win in Japan but at the same time, I would not be disappointed with a second place finish.”

But Prokop won’t have things all his own way in Japan as both Jari Ketomaa and Bernado Sousa will be anxious to impress on the gravel event in their Fiestas.

Ketomaa, from Finland, claimed back-to-back S-WRC wins in New Zealand and Portugal earlier this season but his failure to go the distance on his home event, Rally Finland, in July has dropped him out of title contention. He can at least count on previous experience of competing on Rally Japan, knowledge garnered from tackling the event on its first season in Sapporo in 2008. He was leading the Group N division two years ago until he broke his Subaru Impreza’s suspension hitting a rock on the final morning.

Bernardo Sousa battled the effects of a shoulder injury to finish Rallye Deutschland as the seventh-highest S-WRC finisher and has shown well on his other appearances on gravel this season, his preferred surface.

Czech Roman Pesek was due to appear under the RUFA Sport banner in a Toyota Auris but reported delays readying the car in time for shipment to the event is set to render him a non-starter.