The 2024 season of the Japanese Rally Championship has begun
Rally driver Yuna Kanematsu reports on RALLY Mikawa Bay 2024, the first round of the 2024 season of the Japanese Rally Championship, which has finally begun. What was the story behind the team’s success in finishing the rally despite a series of hardships and hardships?
The course runs through the Mikawa Bay Skyline
Hello, AMW readers! I am rally driver Yuna Kanematsu. In this, I report on the first round of the Japanese Rally Championship 2024 season, ‘RALLY Mikawa Bay 2024 Supported by AICELLO’, which started from 1 (Fri)-3 (Sun) March 2024 in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The Shinshiro Rally, which has been running for 20 years since 2004, will come to an end in 2023 and the new RALLY Mikawa Bay 2024 will be held. I entered the JN4 class, which is dominated by the Suzuki Swift Sport, with the ‘Daito Kentaku WinmaX Cusco DUNLOP Swift’.
In fact, we also drive the Mikawa Bay Skyline, which is now closed to traffic and is familiar to car lovers in Aichi Prefecture. Being able to drive at full throttle on such roads is one of the attractions of rallying.
In addition, the 2024 Japanese Rally Championship has also established a new one-make class for Toyota GR Yaris called the “MORIZO Challenge Cup”, which has been boosted by the success of up-and-coming young drivers.
Alpinestars ambassador
I will be starting my own team, Team Kanematsu (provisional), to compete in 2024, and although there are practically no major differences from the 2023 structure, I will be working towards the championship title!
In 2023, I borrowed service equipment from our club and other things needed to run the team, so things were a bit topsy-turvy before this season’s opening round. This time, I borrowed a Toyota “Hiace” from our sponsor Rosso Modelo as a service car. With the help of many people, we managed to get it into shape.
From 2024, myself and co-driver Momo Tsukishima will be ambassadors for the Italian-based sportswear company Alpinestars! We have a complete set of team wear and chairs used in the service, which is cool, so if you come to the site, I hope you’ll check out that part too.
In addition, we will be using A.S.H.’s new FSE engine oil and PSE transmission oil from 2024. In the past, the transmission sometimes felt worse and was difficult to shift into gear, but with A.S.H.’s oil, the transmission always felt good in the current competition! In addition, a Defi DSDF data logger will be fitted to check the changes during the rally.
A tumultuous start
This first round for Team Kanematsu (provisional) turned out to be a very difficult rally. When the team did the pre-rally run on Friday, the road surface of the forest road stage was a mixture of mud and gravel, and the road width was quite narrow ……. The famous “Ganpo” forest road, which was said to be difficult, seemed better.
The first day finally arrived, and as we nervously headed for the start, expecting SS1 to be a difficult stage ……, to our surprise the race was red-flagged. It was a turbulent start. After that, there were beautiful road surfaces such as the circuit course at Spa Nishinoura and Takejima in the gallery stage, but there were traffic jams in the liaison and late arrivals in the time control, and we were all in a hurry. We ended the first day with “no ride”.
The second day’s stage consisted of two rather dirty and narrow 10km-plus forest roads. Although we were blessed with good weather, we had never experienced such dirty forest roads and could barely stay on the road.
“How can I go faster ……!?”
And worrying all over the place. In SS12 in the afternoon, he got to grips with the road surface a little and improved his time, but there were a few near-misses as he dropped his rear tire into the gutter a few times. Momo Tsukishima also seemed to be struggling and it was a difficult rally for the two of us to keep in touch. The reason we were still able to finish the rally was because OZ’s wheels were sturdy and had no distortion and no air leaks. I realized that lightness is important when driving fast, but rigidity is also important in rallies.
The opening round of the season was a test of experience and responsiveness so far
This year’s event saw 90 entries and a whopping 27 retirements. With cars retiring not only on the dirty forest roads but also on the high-speed Mikawa Bay Skyline, our result was 6th/7th in the JN4 class. With traffic jams and a tight schedule, the opening round of the season was a test of our experience and ability to cope. We were happy to have so many people cheering us on in such circumstances.
It was impressive to see so many local people cheering us on, with people of all ages standing along the roadside waving flags and cheering us on at the entrance to the forest road. It was not my favorite road surface, but I will definitely take revenge next year!
translated by DeepL