Longyou, China, Nov. 6: The quaint little city of Longyou, almost 700 kms away from the frantic activity of Guangzhou which is getting ready to host the 16th Asian Games from next week, has been buzzing over the last two days with the drone of cars competing in the final leg of the 2010 Asia Pacific Rally Championships.
Team MRF had a lot at stake in the final race of the season with their drivers — Katsu Taguchi and Gaurav Gill — leading the points table with 100 and 97 points respectively. Indonesian driver Rifat Sungkar, from the Pertamina team, was breathing down their MRF drivers’ necks with 69 points after five rounds this season.
Taguchi, however, sealed the APRC title on an anti-climatic first day of the Rally itself here on Saturday after all three of the drivers crashed out by the sixth stage. The 38-year-old Japanese added a second driver’s title 11 years after his first one back in 1999 with his nearest rival and teammate pulling out of Sunday’s race as well with an injured hand. The day was set up for Gill to become the first Indian to bag the APRC drivers crown. All the 29-year-old needed to do was finish the race to pip teammate Taguchi to the title, but pulled out with a suspension failure after the crash.
Taguchi fell prey to the concrete-gravel stage introduced only in the Longyou race this season. The FIA had their doubts about the safety of this stage with the APRC rally cars primarily set up for gravel roads.
Those fears came true as Taguchi tried to brake from over 180 kmh down to 120 kmh coming into the concrete section but couldn’t stop the car from skidding. Sungkar followed Taguchi in pulling out of the Rally with a drive shaft failure.
“It was really unfortunate. The tyres are modified to provide better speed on gravel roads. As a result, I had zero grip on the tarmac and crashed straight into a tree,” Taguchi told this paper on Saturday.
While Taguchi was unhurt in the accident, co-driver Mark Stacey from Australia bruised his right arm and face in the accident.
Gill could have still clinched the drivers’ title with seven and five leg points on offer for coming in first and second in the remaining stages on Sunday. But the Delhi man will not be driving on the final day after bruising his right hand badly during his accident. “I had just gone off a few inches outside the concrete track and as I attempted to come back the steering twisted as we went off the road. It is a disappointing way to end a fabulous season but I will come back stronger next year,” the disappointed Gill said.
This was just the first DNF for Gill this season, who had earlier bagged only his second APRC career win in Australia earlier this year. If Gill had decided to race on Sunday, Taguchi was also prepared to return but with the title settled the team decided not to put him back on track.
This is the third APRC title for Team MRF after Armin Kremer and Jussi Valimaki’s wins in 2003 and 2005 respectively.