India’s Gaurav Gill was the shining knight in MRF’s armour as he came up with an impressive show at the third round of the 2010 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), here on Saturday. He topped the eighth stage of the Rally of Whangarei with a timing of 59.5 seconds and is looking as eager as ever for a podium finish on Sunday.
He faces a stiff challenge from local favourite Hayden Paddon of Team Green who is the overall leader.
“I hit the rhythm early in the race and the results are evident. Also, our cars were powerful and I am currently on top amongst the APRC drivers in Whangarei which is very satisfying,” Gaurav said.
“The selection of tyres in the first few stages were crucial and I went in with the right combination and that worked in my favour,” Gill said. What was highly impressive about Gill’s drive was that he topped the Super Special stage which is a 1.5km stretch with a timing of 59.5 seconds.
His MRF teammate Katsuhiko Taguchi suffered a broken engine during the race. “There was an engine failure during the fifth stage of the race but I am still hopeful of giving it my best shot in the remaining stages of the rally,” Taguchi said.
Provisional standings after the eighth stage: Gaurav Gill/Glen Macneall (MRF) 1 (1hr, 25mins, 13.5secs); Alister McRae/Ben Hayes (Proton R3) 2 (1:26:00.7); Rifat Sungkar/Scott Beckwith (Pertamina Rally Team) 3 (1:32:33.8); Katsuhiko Taguchi/Chris Murphy (MRF) 4 (1:38:36.3).