Rifat Sungkar And Benjamin Searcy Achieve APRC Grand Final Title In Lake Toba

Rifat Sungkar when receiving the trophy from the 2023 APRC Lake Toba APRC, (photo: dok ANTARA/Juraidi).

The Indonesian racer, Rifat Sungkar, together with the Australian navigator, Benjamin Searcy, won the Grand Final Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) title in Lake Toba, North Sumatra. They rode the Skolda Fabia Rally2 evo and recorded the fastest time of 1 hour, 58 minutes, 05 seconds after going through 12 Special Stages for three days.

Haji Rahmat and Hade Mboi won second place with a time of 2:08:21, while the pair H Atuy Faturrahman and Emay Achmad took third place with a time of 2:09:16.

After the handover of the winning trophy, Rifat Sungkar said that the APRC race this time was extraordinary with a fairly challenging track field. "I would like to thank everyone for holding this event. This event is extraordinary, I really enjoy it," he said. Rifat Sungkar appreciated the performance of the host IMI of North Sumatra and especially Musa Rajekshah who held Lake Toba Rally, the series of Grand Finals of APRC and the National Championship of Rally Indonesia for the Fourth Round.

"Ini bukan reli yang gampang, tapi reli yang amat berat. Kebangkitan reli Indonesia jelasnya adanya di Danau Toba," sebut pria kelahiran 22 Oktober 1978 itu.Sementara Pembina Ikatan Motor Indonesia (IMI) Sumut, Musa Rajeckshah, mengatakan pihaknya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada semua pihak yang telah memberikan dukungan kepada IMI, terutama para sponsor sehingga APRC tersebut berjalan dengan baik."Memang tidak mudah menggelar acara ini, banyak yang harus dipikirkan mulai kedatangan mobil para pembalap asing hingga memikirkan trek lintasan yang akan digunakan.Terima kasih kami ucapkan kepada seluruh panitia dan sponsor yang telah berusaha dengan maksimal agar acara ini dapat berlangsung dengan baik," kata Musa.