MRF kicks off APRC season with 1-2 finish

Team MRF kicked off its first FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) season as a factory supported team of Skoda at the International Rally of Whangarei in New Zealand on May 18-19.

Skoda’s inclusion in the Volkswagen Group allowed for the somewhat odd sight of Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill at JK Tyre supported Polo R Cup pre-season fitness camp at Greater Noida. The former three-time national rally champion spoke to the young drivers on the importance of fitness prior to departing for New Zealand.

GOING ONE BETTER
Gill finished third in last year’s event, which was his first time ever driving the Super 2000-spec Skoda Fabia. The 31-year-old and co-driver Glenn Macneall managed to go one better to finish second to 22-year-old Esapekka Lappi (pictured below) and co-driver Janne Ferm.

Held over roads through the rural Whangarei and Kaipara Districts provided a variety of testing conditions from fog, thick damp gravel, sun drenched crests and brows to heavy rain showers during the two-day journey of 730.40km.

Even though he pushed his team-mate hard, Gill was hampered by a rear differential mechanical failure during the second morning’s loop of four stages. Continuing with an error free run ensured the reigning Finnish rally champion was never pressured for the top spot during the repeat loop through the Waipu Gorge, Batley, Wairere and Cassidy road stages.

SEEKING COMPETITION
The APRC field was a little thinner than last year, however, given Malaysian manufacturer Proton’s withdrawal from the championship.

In his keenness to find ever stiffer competition, Gill has expressed his desire to compete in at least one round of the World Rally Championship’s (WRC) support category WRC-2.

Speaking to autoX at the VW fitness camp, Gill said finding sponsorship was the biggest hurdle to securing what would, at this stage, have to be a privateer entry into WRC-2.

Gill last competed on the WRC stage when he drove for Tommi Makkinen Racing in the 2009 Production World Rally Championship in a Subaru Impreza.