Gill creates history as he becomes first Indian to win APRC Title
Longyou (China), 2 Nov 2013: Indian driver Gaurav Gill created history by becoming the first Indian to win the top class in the 2013 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship title after finishing Day 1 of the Rally of China at the wheel of his Team MRF ŠKODA Fabia S2000 here on Saturday.
According to Adrenna Communications’ release, title rival and team-mate Esapekka Lappi was leading at the end of Day 1 with Gill in second place. Gill, with Australian co-driver, Glenn Macneall, only had to finish the rally to secure his first APRC title, while Lappi is in a position to move up to second in the championship, having finished second in the S2000 category at the recent Sanremo Rally in Italy.
Gill’s team-mate lads Esapekka Lappi from Finland leads the event by 4 minutes. There’s still one day to go, before the finish when Gill and the team can celebrate on the APRC podium. Gill suffered a puncture which cost him 2-3 minutes but managed to get back in the rally.
Team MRF Driver Gaurav Gill (India), 2013 FIA APRC Champion commented “This is definitely the high-light of my career so far, we’ve come close on several other occasions and this year wasn’t easy either. I have to thank the team, my co-driver Glenn (Macneall), Skoda and a big thank you to MRF tyres too as they’ve stuck with me all these years and so it’s nice to reward them and my country. We stopped and changed tyre losing 2-3 minutes, but the main thing is to get the car back here.”
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