APRC China: Tidemand wins for MRF as Gill retires

Newly crowned FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) champion Pontus Tidemand ended the 2015 season on a high by taking a dominant win in the curtain closing China Rally. India’s Gaurav Gill retired for a second rally in a row with a crash on Saturday.

Being a factory Skoda driver, Tidemand was piloting a Fabia R5 for the final round of the season. This is the same vehicle that the Swedish driver used to win the WRC2 event in Spain last month.

“The Fabia R5 is the successor to the Fabia Super 2000, a car that has been tremendously successful for Skoda, Team MRF and Race Torque,” team manager, Lane Heenan, said.

With superior equipment, Tidemand dominated the China Rally, winning all timed stages en route to his fifth win of the season.

“This rally demanded everything from us once again and showed what a fantastic set to tyres we had, that mastered the toughest of terrains” an elated Tidemand said “Two such important wins in Spain and China within a week – Emil and I didn't dare dream of that. Winning the title in the APRC is our highlight and a big thanks to the whole team.”

Having to drive the Fabia Super 200 when his teammate was equipped with R5 put Gaurav Gill on the backfoot. However, the 33-year-old didn’t really get a chance to show his skills in inferior equipment as he crashed heavily on Saturday. While Gill was unhurt, his co-driver Glenn Macneall sustained a hairline collarbone fracture.

Tidemand has enjoyed an upper hand over Gill all season long due to various reasons. The 24 year old gets more testing time in the car thanks to his close association with Skoda. Further, he dovetailed this season in APRC with WRC2, thus gaining more experience of rallying.

Some drivers from APRC, including Gaurav Gill, will take part in Rally Chikmagalur, the final round of the Indian Rally Championship as well as an event on the FIA Asia Cup calendar. Gill was initially expected to compete in the Super 2000 Skoda but it is understood that issues in transportation have arisen due to which the 2013 APRC champion will continue to campaign for Mahindra in a rally-spec XUV 500.