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 \pm 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 \cdot 10 ^ { 51 } erg , and the reddening-free absolute bolometric magnitude reached -16.63 mag ( corresponding to L _ { bol } ~ { } = ~ { } 3.47 \cdot 10 ^ { 8 } L _ { \odot } ) , about 2 magnitude less than the prototype hypernova SN 1998bw .