JOIN USGaurav Gill proved his prowess once again by clocking the fastest time in rain-hit stages to win the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) here.
The Delhi-based driver, teaming up with New Zealand’s Glenn Macneall, finished 19 minutes ahead of second placed duo of Sanjay Takale of India and Malaysia’s Sean Gregory. With this win they also took the second spot on the overall points table with 65.5 points.
Rain forced the cancelation of five of Sunday’s high speed tests when the roads were deemed unfit to drive on. With just one road-stage to drive on three times to amount to 51kms, Gill, driving the Skoda Fabia S2000, had to employ a more careful approach and he did so with success.
“It was a perfect weekend for me” said Gill. “The technical problems we had with the car in New Zealand resurfaced on shakedown but fortunately Lane Heenan (Race Torque Engineering) and his mechanic’s found the problem so I was able to drive with confidence”
Unfortunately for Team MRF, young Finnish driver Esapekki Lappi was unable to restart day two because of chassis damage sustained on day one. For the first time ever in APRC history drivers from India took up the first two places on the podium. Takale brought home the Subaru Impreza WRX STI in a time of 2::05:07.6.
“I cannot believe this result. I know I was getting better and the tight twisty roads suit my style of driving, amazing!” said Takale, who is second on the points chart with 46 points.
Results: Gaurav Gill (Ind)/ Glenn Macneall (NZ) (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia) 1hr57min12.3sec, 1; Sanjay Takale (Ind)/ Sean Gregory (Mal) (Subaru Impreza WRX STI) 2::05:07.6, 2; Simon Knowles/ Margot Knowles (Aus) (Mitsubishi EVO IX) 2::19:23.0, 3.