Playing out on the asphalt-surfaced forest roads that cut across the Tango peninsula, centered on the city of Kyotango, Round 6 of the All-Japan Rally Championship was held on August 24th - 25th (Sat/Sun). The pairing of Takumi Nanba and Mitsuo Ishigetani pulled off another win in the JN1 class in their Mazda RX-8, having had their first win in the previous round at Monterey.

The course was this time characterized by technical sections with successive twisty corners, further complicated by a sudden downpour the night before, which had left the road surface covered in dirt and leaves. A low-pressure front then swept across western Japan, resulting in continuing unsettled weather above the Tango peninsula. In the midst of this, Nanba and Ishigetani's RX-8 finished SS12 at the end of day one in a commanding position, leading the 2nd place Nissan March by 19.8 seconds, and the 3rd place Daihatsu Storia X4 of Washio and Uchida by 23.9 seconds. 2nd place then dropped out, leaving Nanba in his RX-8 to race alone without incident, going on to achieve a second consecutive win in the JN1 class. The pairing of Mitsuhiro Kunisawa and Masahiko Kihara in their Nissan Leaf EV caused a stir by coming in third.

“When we heard that we could compete in JN1 with the RX-8 from this year, we narrowed the focus to asphalt events and investigated the possibility. We entered the first round at Karatsu as a test, but, as expected, there were many challenges, and we allowed a three-month interval to make adjustments before Monterey, although, to be honest, I'm surprised that we won there. At Tango, good handling, as well as a focus on making up time on the stages where we could make best use of the vehicle's power, were both factors in our win. We are now aiming for victory at the Highland and Shinshiro asphalt rallies,” said Nanba.

In the JN2 class, Koichi Okada suffered a broken shock absorber in the final stage of day one, and once again finished in 3rd. Tetsuya Kato, likewise in a Demio, finished in 6th, while Rina Ito, the only female driver, claimed her first prize-winning finish in 7th place. She commented, “The course was relatively wide, so during the recce we were thinking about the racing line while making our pace notes. Unusually for the first day, we were able to hold our own against the other cars, and ended up in 9th. On day two, even with the wet surface and with fog limiting visibility, we finished 5th in our class, so I thought, ‘Hey, we finally managed a decent run.’”