Toshihiro Arai

Toshihiro Arai

Nation:	Japan
World Rally Championship (WRC)
First rally:	Rally Australia 1997
Last rally:	Rally Great Britain 2010
Co-driver:	Daniel Barritt
Team:	Subaru Team Arai
Vehicle:	Subaru Impreza STI
Rallies Victories Podiums WP 86 - - -
Championship title:	PWRC 2005 , PWRC 2007
Points:	11
Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC)
First rally:	Belgium Ypres Rally 2010
Co-driver:	Dale Moscatt
Team:	Team Arai
Vehicle:	Subaru Impreza R4
Rallies: Victories: Podiums: WP 5 - - -
Points:	3
Status: After rally 10 of 11, 2011 season

Toshihiro "Toshi" Arai ( Japanese 新 井 敏 弘 , Arai Toshihiro ; born December 25, 1966 in Isesaki ) is a Japanese rally and car driver .

Both as a works driver and as a privateer, he always drove Subaru Imprezas of various stages of development. In contrast to his loyalty to the Impreza, Arai kept it with his passengers. Since the Intercontinental Rally Challenge 2011 , Arai starts with the Australian Dale Moscatt and thus with the seventh co-driver at his side. In 2005 and 2007 he won the title in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship .

Career

Beginnings

Arai gained his first experience in rallying in the Japanese rally championship . In 1992 he won class B. In 1994 he finished sixth in the overall ranking. After two third championship places in the following two years, he became Japanese rally champion in 1997. That year he also took part in the Dakar Rally .

WRC and PWRC

Arai was, with his Japanese passenger Toshio Omizo , in Rally Australia in 1997 his debut in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in a Subaru the group N .

In 1998 Arai was entered in three world championship rallies. He and his newly registered co-driver Hiroshi Suzuki were excluded from the New Zealand Rally . With the Briton Roger Freeman at his side, he did not reach the finish in the Rally Australia and the Rally Great Britain . In four rallies in the 1999 season , he started in a World Rally Car (at that time class A8) without getting into the points. He contested three more rallies this season in Group N, where he achieved seventh place overall and his first class win at the Rally China, which is remembered for many failures .

2000 Arai took part in eight rounds of the world championship. At the Safari Rally and the Rally Greece he scored his first World Championship points with a sixth and fourth place. He also won the FIA Teams' Cup, which was held once this season . Arai drove the first nine rallies of the year next season with his new co-driver, Australian Glenn MacNeal . There he competed in the WRC from 2001 to 2002 for the Subaru works team in twelve world championship rallies. New Zealander Tony Sircombe became his new co-driver at the Rally Great Britain, which was held at the end of the 2001 season . During these two years in the factory Subaru, he crossed the finish line five times and with fourth place in the 2001 Rally Cyprus three world championship points. In addition, he started five rallies in the PWRC class in 2002, where he scored a class win and 22 points.

Toshihiro Arai in the Subaru Impreza WRC at the 2006 Japan Rally

From the 2004 World Rally Championship , Arai focused on the PWRC title. He founded his own Subaru Team Arai and competed in seven World Rally Championship rounds with his Subaru Impreza WRX STi. With second places in his class in Australia and the Rally Mexico , he finished second in the PWRC at the end of the season. In 2005 he became champion of the FIA ​​Production Car World Rally Championship for Drivers (PWRC). With four class wins - in the Rally Sweden , the Rally Turkey , the Rally Japan and in Australia - a second place in his class in New Zealand and the seventh PWRC place in the Rally Cyprus, he won the title by superiority. In the 2006 season he won the Rally Mexico in six PWRC rallies. The rest of the season he achieved rather average results and was sixth in his class. At his home rally, he started for the Subaru factory team in the Impreza WRC and achieved sixth place overall.

At the 2007 World Rally Championship , Arai took part in six rallies. He and his team started exclusively in the PWRC class and won the rallies in Greece and New Zealand in this category. As he finished sixth in Sweden at the beginning of the season and second in class in Mexico and in the Argentina Rally , a tenth PWRC place at the Rally Japan was enough for him to secure his second title in the PWRC.

The next year, Arai switched back to his former co-driver Glenn MacNeal. As sixth in the PWRC class in Sweden and PWRC third in Japan, he was only twelfth in this class in 2008 , as he had not reached the finish in Argentina, Greece, Turkey and New Zealand.

On his first participation the next year, he retired from the Rally Norway . He was also fourth in Cyprus, third in Argentina and Greece in the PWRC ratings of the 2009 season . After retiring in Australia, after finishing second in his class in Great Britain, he finished fifth in the 2009 Production World Rally Championship.

Also in the 2010 World Cup he finished fifth in the PWRC at the end of the season. This season the Briton Daniel Barritt read to him from the prayer book . After finishing second in his class in Mexico, fourth in New Zealand and sixth in Rally Germany , he retired in Japan, finished third in Rally France and finished ninth in the PWRC in the UK .

IRC

As in all international rallies, Arai started in 2010 with a Subaru Impreza at a run of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). However, he did not finish at the Belgium Geko Ypres Rally 2010 . In the 2011 season he takes part in selected IRC runs with the new Subaru Impreza built according to R4 regulations. Also new is his Australian co-driver Dale Moscatt . At the Tour de Corse he reached 13th place overall. During the Sata Rallye Açores , he retired due to an electrical defect. At the Mecsek Rally , which was held in Hungary , Arai was 18th overall. Finishing ninth overall at the Rally Scotland , Arai finished first in its class and earned his first three IRC points.

WTCC

Toshihiro Arai in the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T in the 2011 WTCC

In 2011 Arai also competed in touring car racing for the first time and took part in an event of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). In Suzuka he drove a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T used by the works team RML Group . The drivers 'and manufacturers' championships were won with such a vehicle this season. Arai's lap time in qualifying would have been enough for starting position 16 among 24 participants. But since he did not turn off to weigh in as prescribed, his lap times were canceled and he had to start from the back. In the two races he was classified 13th and 15th.

statistics

title

• Japanese Rally Championship : 1997
• FIA Teams' Cup: 2000
• Production Car World Rally Championship : 2005, 2007

WRC results

season	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	Item
1997	Subaru Rally Team Japan	Subaru Impreza 555	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	IDN	ITA	OFF 16	GBR			0	-
1998	Subaru Rally Team Japan	Subaru Impreza WRX	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL EX								0	-
	Toshihiro Arai											FIN	ITA	FROM DNF	GBR DNF
1999	Subaru Allstars Endless Sport	Subaru Impreza WRC 98	MON	SWE	KEN	POR DNF	ESP 21	FRA 16	ARG	GRE 9									0	-
	Subaru Rally Team Japan	Subaru Impreza WRX									NZL 13	FIN
	STi Club Rally Team												CHN 7
	Subaru Rally Team Japan	Subaru Impreza 555												ITA	OFF 8	GBR
2000	Spike Subaru team	Subaru Impreza WRC 99	MON	SWE	KEN 6	POR	ESP 16	ARG	GRE 4	NZL DNF	FIN	CYP 9	FRA	ITA		GBR DNF			4th	14th
		Subaru Impreza 555													OFF 13
2001	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC 01	MON	SWE	POR DNF	ESP	ARG 8	CYP 4	GRE DNF	KEN DNF	FIN	NZL 14	ITA DNF	FRA DNF	FROM DNF	GBR 10			3	18th
2002	Toshihiro Arai	Subaru Impreza 555	MON	SWE 25															0	-
	Spike Subaru team	Subaru Impreza WRX			FRA	ESP	CYP DNF	ARG 11		KEN DNF	FIN		ITA	NZL DNF	OFF 14	GBR
	555 Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC 02							GRE 13			GER DNF
2003	Subaru Production Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRX	MON	SWE DNF	DOOR	NZL 11	ARG 9	GRE	CYP 9	GER	FIN	FROM DNF	ITA	FRA 17	ESP	GBR			0	-
2004	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	MON	SWE 26	MEX 13	NZL 15	CYP	GRE	DOOR	ARG DNF	FIN	GER 18	JPN 9	GBR	ITA	FRA	ESP	OFF 8	1	30th
2005	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	MON	SWE 17	MEX	NZL 14	ITA	CYP 21	TUR 14	GRE	ARG	FIN	GER	GBR	JPN 12	FRA	ESP	OFF 9	0	-
2006	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	MON	SWE	MEX 9	ESP	FRA	ARG 30	ITA	GRE 21	GER	FIN		CYP 22	DOOR	FROM DNF	NZL 30	GBR	3	21st
	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRC 06											JPN 6
2007	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	MON	SWE 23	NOR	MEX 11	POR	ARG 10	ITA	GRE 15	FIN	GER	NZL 13	ESP	FRA	JPN 29	IRISHMAN	GBR	0	-
2008	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza STI N14	MON	SWE 15	MEX	ARG DNF	JOR	ITA	GRE DNF	TUR DNF	FIN	GER	NZL DNF	ESP	FRA	JPN 12	GBR		0	-
2009	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza STI N14	IRISHMAN	NOR DNF	CYP 13	POR	ARG 12	ITA	GRE 10	POLE	FIN	FROM DNF	ESP	GBR 13					0	-
2010	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza STI N15	SWE	MEX 11	JOR	DOOR	NZL 26	POR	BUL	FIN	GER 34	JPN DNF	FRA 23	ESP					0	-
		Subaru Impreza STI													GBR 30

IRC results

season	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	Points	Item
2010	Subaru Team Arai	Subaru Impreza STI N15	MON	CUR	ARG	CAN	SAR	YPR DNF	AZO	MAD	ZLI	SAN	SCO	CYP	0	-
2011	Stohl Racing	Subaru Impreza R4	MON	CAN	COR 13	YAL	YPR	AZO DNF	ZLI	MEC 18	SAN	SCO 9	CYP		3	33

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Final results China Rally 1999 (ewrc-results.com, accessed on September 28, 2011)
2. ↑ Driver profile - Toshihiro Arai (ewrc-results.com, accessed on September 28, 2011)
3. ↑ 2007 FIA PWRC Standings (wrc.com, accessed September 28, 2011)
4. ↑ 2008 FIA PWRC Standings (wrc.com, accessed September 28, 2011)
5. ↑ 2009 FIA PWRC Standings (wrc.com, accessed September 28, 2011)
6. ↑ 2010 FIA PWRC Standings (wrc.com, accessed September 28, 2011)
7. ↑ "Rally specialist Arai in Suzuka in the fourth Chevrolet" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 27, 2011)
8. ↑ Arai: Missed the scales, canceled lap times (Motorsport-Total.com on October 22, 2011 2011)

Web links

Commons : Toshihiro Arai  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (Japanese, English)
• Results and statistics on eWRC-results.com
• Profile at WRA