APRC 2016: Gaurav Gill wins Inaugural round ahead of Kreim

Indian rally driver, Gaurav Gill has won the Asian Pacific Rally Championship season opener in Whangarei, New Zealand. His MRF-Skoda team-mate, Fabian Kreim finished second making it a Skoda one-two.

The Delhi-based, 34-year old driver, Gaurav Gill took his ninth APRC rally win at Rally Whangarei. Gill had also won the New Zealand round of the series back in 2014, marking his second victory of the rally.

Gill and Kreim were driving Skoda Fabia R5 cars prepared by Race Torque. Gill had a 4.6 second deficit to Kreim over night, but finished with a 30.4 second despite having trouble with his turbo during the first of the two loops of the three Special Stages. With his turbo replaced for the final stage, Giil managed to maintain his lead all the way to victory with six Special stage victories as well.

Mike Young who had won the the very first Special Stage of the rally, eventually finished a distant third behind the two MRF-Skodas.

“Obviously, I am extremely happy that I won today. Every win is special and today, after overcoming the overnight deficit, I opened a sizeable lead over Fabian and thereafter, my intention was to nurse it to the finish. The weather also changed overnight and we had to cope with it.

“We had problems with the turbo with a leaking actuator that we replaced during service after the first loop, but with hardly a minute to spare. Thus, we were very much down on power during the first loop. However, I made 20 seconds on Fabian after repairs before deciding to ease off and drive to his pace rather than push as I had enough lead to win. My aim was to finish the event straining the car or the engine.

“Overall, I drove about 80-85 per cent to my potential since I am learning the new car and get the set-up right as it was prepared for Rally of Finland. From now on, I have to be consistent and keep scoring points,” said Gill.

Round two of the APRC 2016 campaign will be the Rally Queensland in Australia. The rally will take place from June 18-19, 2016.