After eight—well, technically six—stages, the Asia Cross Country Rally concluded Saturday with a 69.55-kilometer loop of Pattaya City. While the shortest timed leg (327.83 km including liaisons), this just meant there was little margin for problems for those competing for the win.

This included overall leader Chayapon Yotha, who was only ahead of Mana Pornsiricherd by 10:42 going into Stage 8. The mechanical gremlins decided to give him a scare when the cooling system malfunctioned just as he was completing the liaison and getting ready for the start of the Selective Section, though teammate Kazuto Koide quickly caught up with him and got it fixed in time.

As was the case for most stages, much of the leg ran through narrow forest roads and muddy terrain due to overnight rain.

Pornsiricherd set the second fastest time in the stage, just 32 seconds behind TGR Thailand teammate Natthaphon Angritthanon. Although Yotha finished behind Pornsiricherd in seventh, his time of 40:34 meant the margin between them was sliced down by just two minutes.

Yotha wasn’t the only car to experience trouble on the last day. Yuichi Iijima, the only driver entered in T2D, retired to make the category the only one with zero finishers.

Ikuo Hanawa, whose race was upended by his crash earlier in the rally, discovered a brake line puncture on his car as he came to the start as well. He tried to race at a slower pace to minimize brake usage, only for the ball joint on a lower control arm to break off. After enjoying some coffee and lounging in a hammock while waiting for his crew, they got it fixed a few hours later and he reached the finish, albeit at the bottom of the order.

“This year’s AXCR was a fierce battle between the factory teams, going on at an abnormally high pace,” Hanawa commented. “Even the top class had someone break down every day, forcing them to fight to make repairs. Of course, our eight-year-old machine was in a situation where it would break apart mid-air if we attacked head on.

“But still, it was fun to be able to race as a team until the end, so I’ll call it a success.”

Stage 8 winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1D	1	113	Natthaphon Angritthanon	Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand	0:37:41
T1G	16	146	Tomohiro Wada	Showa Garage Racing	0:42:54
T1E	36	127	Chen Ho-Huang	i Taiwan Rally Team	6:30:00
T2A-D	9	144	See Cheing Ooi	Full Throttle Motorsport Garage	0:41:09
T2D	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	N/A	DNF

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
M1	2	22	Takuya Izumoto	JISOK-RR	42:09
M2	1	17	Sumaetee Trakulchai	Team Musashi International	41:41
M3	14	23	Kim Jae Hyun	Team Korea	52:56
Sidecar	23	66	Masahito Watanabe, Masahiro Ozeki	Rising Sun Racing	1:02:49

Overall winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1D	1	112	Chayapon Yotha	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	16:15:12
T1G	15	116	Memen Harianto	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	22:06:41
T1E	34	127	Chen Ho-Huang	i Taiwan Rally Team	50:31:29
T2A-D	3	142	Bailey Cole	Feeliq Innovation Motorsport	17:08:29
T2D	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	N/A	DNF

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
M1	4	22	Takuya Izumoto	JISOK-RR	19:48:21
M2	1	16	Yoshio Ikemachi	Team Musashi International	17:47:28
M3	6	45	Khomsan Udomteekasiri	Ark Bar Samui	22:04:16
Sidecar	29	66	Masahito Watanabe, Masahiro Ozeki	Rising Sun Racing	61:46:31

Featured image credit: Ikuo Hanawa