After a thrilling season opener in Whangerai, New Zealand - The second round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship is all set to begin its ...
After a thrilling season opener in Whangerai, New Zealand - The second round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship is all set to begin its action at the Island of New Caledonia.
After an successful shakedown, Team MRF driver Espekka Lappi & Gaurav Gill feel good with the setup of their car and so does the rest of the competition. Gaurav Gill went fastest in the shakedown stage.
Production class leader, Sanjay Takale too is on a high with his recent victory in his first outing in a 4WD Subaru Impreza in the previous test at Whangerai, and hopes for a similar top finish on the podium.
Micheal (Mike) Young, the young lad from New Zealand had not just won his class, but also finished on top roll with clinching the overall 3rd in the APRC competition. Too bad, that he had to miss this rally.
Day One :
In the opening test of the rally, at the end of Leg 1, India's No.1 rally driver Gaurav Gill from Team MRF Tyres leads the rally by over 5 minutes to the nearest competitor, Emmanuel Guigou [has not registered for APRC points].
Finnish Esapekka Lappi retired out of the rally after his car developed a serious engine failure on SS4, he had won the previous stage over his team-mate G.Gill, which otherwise was in favour of Gill.
Second in the APRC points is another Indian Sanjay Takale who is going strong in his Production class as a leader, while Simon Knowles is second in class and 3rd overall in APRC.
There were many retirements than finishes today, mostly due to the rainy conditions and either the cars failed or the drivers. 4 APRC points contenders Esapekka Lappi Matt, Van Tuinen, Bruce Fullerton, and Claude Clavel retired, along with Brian Green, Jean Louis Leyraud, Eric Riande.
In the National Rally, Alexis Barbou, Eugene Creugnet, Yverick Mercier lead the rally in top 3.
Final Day :
After a rainy night at New Caledonia, and with cancellation of 5 of 8 stages - rally leader Gaurav Gill won at a comfortable margin of more than a minute. “The final day was obviously a short day but it was still good miles although the heavy overnight rain meant it was slippery in the morning. It was hard to underdrive, which is what I was doing to get to the finish but it’s been a good weekend for us. We were quick from the shakedown having come here with good confidence from New Zealand. Now we have some good points for the championship,” said Gaurav at the end of the rally.
The rest of the top order also didn't change for APRC point scorers, with Sanjay Takale taking the second top position, while Simon Knowles on the final perch.
| Overall Position | Crew | Nat | Vehicle | Leg Time | Diff Leader | Previous Car | |||
| 1 | TEAM MRF Gaurav Gill + Glenn Macneal | IND | SKODA Fabia S2000 IND + NZL | 0:32:41,6 | 0:00:00,0 | 0:00:00,0 | |||
| 2 | SANJAY TAKALE Sanjay Takale + Sean Gregory | FRA | SUBARU Impreza IND + MLZ | 0:39:37,8 | 0:06:56,2 | 0:01:08,0 | |||
| 3 | SIMON KNOWLES Simon Knowles + Margot Knowles | AUS | MITSUBISHI Evo 9 AUS + AUS | 0:39:41,4 | 0:06:59,8 | 0:00:03,6 |
With the collection of points so far, Gaurav Gill leads the championship after his team-mate Esapekka Lappi failed to earn any points with yesterday's crash. Next round of APRC is at Australia, mid next month.
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