WRC 2018: Gaurav Gill and MRF to compete in WRC-2 this year

MRF Tyres announced its participation in the WRC-2 class of the FIA World Rally Championship today with three-time Asia-Pacific Rally Championship title winner Gaurav Gill in a campaign that will commence later this year.

Speaking to autoX, Soman Joseph (MRF Tyre's senior manager of product promotion) confirmed the move for MRF to head beyond the APRC and compete on the global motorsport stage in the second of three categories in the WRC. 

Joseph stated that despite four rounds of the 2018 season already being completed, Team MRF will commence their campaign this year after a team is selected to run their entries, much like how Race Torque ran their cars in the APRC.

A decision will also be taken on which car to run in the championship as well as whether a new tyre will be constructed for use in competition. 

MRF had been competing in the APRC since 2002 and Gill joined them in the premier competition in the Asia-Pacific region in 2007 before taking his maiden victory in the championship in 2008 at the Rally of Indonesia. 

MRF won a total of nine titles during its years of competition and after Gill's three triumphant campaigns in 2013, 2016 and 2017, decided to take on a bigger challenge. 

We will provide more updates on MRF and Gill's developing WRC-2 campaign as they become avaiable.