Rally Italia Sardegna: Gaurav Gill shows his pace in shakedown for 11th in RC2 category
Bengaluru, 07 June 2018: Indian ace Gaurav Gill (co-driver Glenn Macneall) of Team MRF Tyres, marked his debut in WRC 2 with a best of two minutes, 07.3 seconds in Thursday’s shakedown at the 3.51 Kms Olmeda test in damp conditions ahead of Rally Italia Sardegna which commences tonight with the Super Special Stages before the competitors negotiate the Special Stages over the next three days.
He finished the shakedown session overall 24th out of 41 starters and 11th in the RC2 category (WRC 2, R5 cars), missing the top-10 by a mere 10th of a second.
Gill, the 36-year old Delhi-based triple Asia Pacific Rally Championship winner, started his shakedown with a timing of 02:16.4 in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 and dramatically improved his pace by clocking 02:09.2 in his second run before going even quicker in his third attempt with a 02:07.3.
His best timing put him just outside the top-10 in the RC2 category where his former APRC team-mate Ole Christian Veiby in a Skoda Fabia R5 was among the quickest in 02:03.08. Incidentally, Gill was way quicker than European champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the 39-year old from Poland, also in a Ford Fiesta R5 and in his first WRC 2 participation.
The Rally Italia Sardegna will officially start at 5 pm (8.30 pm IST) from the Alghero seafront. Then, SS1 “Ittiri Arena Show” will follow at 6 pm (9.30 pm IST) on live TV on FOX Sports and the national channel RAI Sport.
Over the weekend, the competitors will tackle 20 stages totalling 314.36 Kms of competitive action with 36.51 Kms of the route new for this year.
