The result not only underlined his growing stature in conditions he was not familiar to begin with, but also positioned himself well for the final round at Pune, India, where the fifth and final round (MRF India Rally) will be run on December 5-7,2003. At Rayong, Kremer finished Overall second, behind Malaysia's 2002 APRC champion Karamjit Singh (co-driver Allen Oh), who were in a Group A Proton Pert and scored their first win in the 2003 series. Importantly, Kremer finished ahead of New Zealand's Geoff Argyle (co-driver Chris Smith) who drove a Group A Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.

As well as he drove in Rayong; Kremer was quick to attribute his success to the MRF tyres. "It's been a strong and difficult race. I'm very happy with the result. The new MRF dirt tyres have worked wonderfully and the car on the whole - the suspension, the differential, the engine, everything worked brilliantly throughout the rally. I'm looking forward to the MRF India Rally, and if I do well there, I could have a shot at the overall APRC title," he said. For the Thailand round, 56 asymmetric, dirt, tyres in size 205/65R15 ZDM3 and 20 mud tyres in size 205/65 R15 ZWM2, meant for rain and slushy conditions were air freighted to Bangkok. The mud tyres had two different constructions and made from brand new moulds that were fabricated by MRF in a record 12 days! Moulds generally take several months to develop and MRF's technical engineers literally worked round the clock to have these tyres ready.

The final day was a brilliant one for Kremer, with the only problem being a lost rear wing aerofoil on the first stage. For Nutahara, it was not the best of outings, he could not find the pace required to get ahead of Kremer and had to be content with a third place finish in Group N, behind his Advan-PIAA team-mate Katsuhiko Taguchi (co-driver Mark Stacey) and overall fifth. The second Team MRF Tyres entry David Doppelreiter of Austria (co driver Ola Floene of Norway) lost an excellent chance to finish third in Group N when he retired due to a broken drive shaft on the final Special Stage. Nevertheless, Doppelreiter put in an improved performance overall and was up there among the front-runners with consistently quick timings that reflected signs of him settling down in the series.