  New optical photometric and spectroscopic data of the bright hypernova SN
2002ap are presented. The obtained BVRI light curves as well as the optical
spectra agree well with other published data series. The distance has been
inferred by applying the Expanding Photosphere Method for the data around
maximum. The derived 6.7 Mpc is in good agreement with recent photometric
distances of M74. However, the total (random plus systematic) uncertainty of
the EPM-distance is at least 4.5 Mpc (about 70 %). The physical parameters of
the SN have been determined via simplified analytic models of the light and
velocity curves. It is confirmed that SN 2002ap was a less energetic hypernova,
the kinetic energy was 4 - 8 10^51 erg, and the reddening-free absolute
bolometric magnitude reached -16.63 mag (corresponding to L_bol = 3.47 10^8
L_solar), about 2 magnitude less than the prototype hypernova SN 1998bw.
