Japan APRC: Gill clinches win in Hokkaido
Gaurav Gill (co-driver Stephane Prevot) won the Rally Hokkaido, the fourth round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship on Sunday.
Gaurav Gill, Stéphane Prévot, Skoda Fabia R5, Team MRF
Anand Philar
The Team MRF Tyres driver, competing in a Skoda Fabia R5 car, completed the event in a total time of 1hr53m21.8s. This was a 11m41.4s advantage of the second place finisher Robert Blomberg (Lars Andersson), who is competing for Mpart in a Mitsubishi Mirage.
Swede Blomberg moved up to the second place after Cusco Racing’s Yuyi Sumiyama (Takahiro Yasui) retired in the 12th Special Stage of the day due to mechanical problems.
The Indian has thus taken the lead in the championship and the champion will be decided in the last round in Chikmagalur (India) in November.
“It’s been a perfect weekend because I got maximum points," he told the APRC website.
"Most importantly, I’m back in the championship and the last round is in my home country.
“Japan is always difficult with such high speeds and rough roads. However, we had the perfect tyre choice and the perfect car from our team MRF Skoda.
"It would have been good to have Veiby in the fight but unfortunately he went off on Saturday. We had a great weekend and it was overall very satisfying," he added.
Veiby said: “Saturday was a big disappointment we had some problems with a damper. After that, we went a little bit off and got stuck.
"Sunday was really good and I think we got some good points. The championship is still on and it's going to be a very exciting rally in India."
Veiby and India's Sanjay Takale (Noriko Takeshita), driving a Mitsubishi Mirage, rejoined in Leg 2.
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