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Gill triumphs on washed out second day
IMBIL, AUSTRALIA: Holding his nerve amid the difficult conditions, Gaurav Gill won the Inter national Rally of Queensland on a day that saw harsh weather force the
IMBIL, AUSTRALIA: Holding his nerve amid the difficult conditions, Gaurav Gill won the Inter national Rally of Queensland on a day that saw harsh weather force the cancellation of four special stages.
Gill has now won the opening two rallies of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
Torrential rain, reported by local media to be as much as 100mm in certain areas, caused the surface to become dangerously slippery. This prompted the organising team to cancel special stages 13, 14, 15 and 16 which were scheduled after lunch.
Instead, a short stage 20 was introduced so that participants could complete the mandatory 1.2km for full points to be allotted.
While the organisers did not release an official statement, they said the reason for cancellation of the four stages was the terrain becoming too dangerous for drivers and the difficulty in providing medical assistance in the forest in case of an accident.
The Australian Rally Championship which was held on the same tracks as the APRC saw a major accident as Simon Evans crashed his Subaru into a tree during the third special stage of the day.
Asked about the shortening of the rally, Gill said, “It’s always difficult and a big challenge to drive in these conditions. I’m glad that the rally got shortened. The organisers cut the distance because it was too dangerous to drive.
“The speeds are very high and some parts of the forest are not very safe to drive so we (the drivers) put it in writing to request the stages be cut. A lot of people crashed and there were a lot of retirements in the morning. So they took the decision to cut it short and it was good.”
Gill’s MRF-Skoda teammate Fabian Kreim finished second at one minute 59.6 seconds. Gill is now looking forward to the China Rally on August 6-7.
(The writer’s trip is sponsored by MRF)
