2016 APRC Rally India: Gaurav Gill Brings Home The Title With A Clean Sweep

The past two days of the Coffee Day India Rally went by in a jiffy, just like the drivers darting through the plantation area in their loud rally cars. The most important championship here was the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, which saw Gaurav Gill and his co-driver Glenn Macneall clinching the title with a commendable clean sweep. The Delhi-based driver has won every single stage of the FIA 2016 APRC, which spanned through New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan and Malaysia, before concluding in Chikkamagaluru. It’s a proud moment for Gill and us Indians as he is the only driver in the world to have achieved the feat! The APRC is a coveted rally and has produced several world champions in the past.

Gill was composed throughout all the sixteen stages of the final round. To give you an idea, he finished today’s final stage with a superb 11 minutes lead over Michael Young (Malcolm Read). He finished the last stage in a spanking 3hrs, 39min:37.9sec, whereas Young clocked 3hrs, 51min:10.3sec, followed by Sanjay Takale at 4hrs, 03min:51sec.

If you are intrigued about Gill’s Skoda Fabia R5, then allow me to point out a few mind-boggling facts about it. For starters, the car is powered by 1620cc direct injection turbocharged motor, which produces 279PS of power and 420Nm of torque. To channel these figures to the ground a rally-specific 4x4 drivetrain has been placed in the tiny (a whisker less than 4 metres) hatchback bodyshell, and is linked to the motor via a five-speed sequential gearbox. Safety? A roll cage is present, along with fire extinguishing system and racing bucket seats, but that’s that. No ABS or any other electronic nannies. The R5 still weighs 1230kg dry for the all the artillery it carries.

A Look at the past three days:

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On the first day, Fabian Kreim from Germany and his co-driver Frank Christian of Team MRF topped the time charts in the Super Special Stage, ahead of teammate Gill and his co-driver Glenn Macneall.

Kreim was able to finish the 2.12 km stage in just 2’’17.8 seconds, whereas Gill followed at 2”18.5 seconds, ahead of Sumiyana, who finished 2’’23.4. The action was watched by over 10,000 spectators at the Amber Valley School, under the persistent rain. The three front runners were accompanied by Michael Young and his teammate Malcolm Rean, and Sanjay Takale (with co-driver Noriko Takeshita).

Apart from APRC, the venue in Chikkamagaluru also hosted the Indian National Rally Championship, in which Amittrajit Ghosh and his co-driver Ashwin Naik registered the quickest times while also putting up a lead over Arjun Rao Aroor and his co-driver Satish Rajagopal. On the other hand was the INRC 2000 class, which was saw Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Shanmuga SN) topping the charts. The FMSCI Cup category was led by Vikram Gowda and his co-driver Uday Kumar KV. In the Indian Rally Championship (IRC) class, it was Sanjay Takale who ruled the roost; he was also competing in the APRC. 

Day 2

As opposed to the first day, the second day was more pleasing for Gill, who had already won the championship thanks to his previous 5 consecutive wins in the APRC. He topped the charts in monumental style with a lead of 7”33.6 seconds over second-placed Michael Young (co-driver Malcolm Read) of Cusco Racing. Unfortunately, Gill’s teammate Fabian Kreim crashed out early in the race.

In the INRC, Amittrajit Ghosh and Aswin Naik of Mahindra Adventure took a lead over Team Yokohama 2K’s Karna Kadur (co-driver Nikhil Pai) in the battle for the crown. Kadur, however, was able to lead the INRC 2000 class, where he was followed by Bikku Babu and his co-driver Milen George.

Today's results

There’s is no questioning the fact that the today’s evening belonged to Gill, whose name will be written in golden letters in the books of APRC forever. However, the performance of participants of the other races such as the INRC, INRC 2000, FMSCI Cup, the IRC and the Gypsy Star were also significant.

The INRC class was won by Karna Kadur (Nikhil Pai), who took the victory away from Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) after he was forced to retire following mechanical issues in his XUV500. Bikku Babu (Milen George) finished second, whereas Kadur’s teammate Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) finished third. 

Kadur completed a double victory by topping the INRC 2000 category for the second time in this season. Takale, who finished third in the APRC, also won the IRC category.