Looking to explode out of the blocks

All’s well that ends well. The 2013 Asia Pacific Rally Championship took off on an inauspicious note for MRF driver Gaurav Gill, a technical glitch leaving his car ‘handicapped’ at the Rally of Whangarie. Nevertheless, Gill, and his codriver Glenn MacNeall, managed a second-place finish and went on to win the championship. This time, however, the driver wants to explode out of the blocks.

“The spring that connects the drive shaft to the front-right wheel had lost its tension. As a consequence, the car was effectively a three-wheel drive. Every time I manoeuvred a turn, the wheel acted funny,” said Gill a few hours before leaving for New Zealand.

“For the engineers, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It was only once we finished the round that we figured out the issue.”

This year, Gill is planning to be fastidious. “I haven’t been driving regularly for the last six months, so I have to acclimatise fast during practice on Tuesday.”

Like last year, Gill will be driving a Skoda Fabia Super2000, a car he calls ‘a little over-responsive.’ “The first thing I’ll do upon reaching Whangarie is get in tune with the car. Also, we’ll be driving quite a lot on gravel in unpredictable weather. If it’s sunny at the start, by the time we reach the other face of the island, it would be raining. Since tyres will play a crucial role, I have suggested a few changes to MRF.” WRC BECKONS Though Gill insists that every season is a new chapter with its own challenges, MRF’s dominance at the APRC — the Chennai-based side is eyeing their third straight championship this season — takes the sheen out of the championship. And Gill, like all other petrolheads, is hungry to test himself at a bigger stage, namely, the World Rally Championship.

“The aim has always been

IT’S TOUGH TO GET A RIDE IN THE WRC, BUT I AM IN TOUCH WITH A FEW PEOPLE AND HOPE TO TAKE PART THIS YEAR. NOT THAT WINNING APRC IS EASY, BUT WRC, WITH LONGER STAGES, IS A TOUGHER CHALLENGE

GAURAV GILL, Reigning APRC champ

the WRC. It’s tough to get a ride there, but I am in touch with a few people and hope to be in the championship this season.