MRF gear up for new season

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Gaurav Gill steers his Team MRF car during the shakedown ahead of the first leg of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in Whanga

A new season, like the New Year, fosters hope. As the stage is set for the start of the Rally of Whangarei, the first of the seven-leg Asia Pacific Rally Championship, top drivers in the fray spoke of finishing the season on a high. The opening press conference on Friday was marked by a mixture of anxiety and optimism.

The booming sound produced by revving engines of modified cars filled the quiet air of this picturesque Maori heartland to herald the arrival of the rally caravan. Rallying has become an identity for Whangarei these days along with tourism. This northern New Zealand town with a population of around 50,000 also hosts the World Rally Champion-ship, the big daddy of this motorsport discipline, every alternate year.
APRC may be the poor nephew of the WRC, but speed always thrills as long as it is not showcased on busy public roads. Team MRF will, as usual, be flying India’s flag in the APRC. MRF bagged both team and individual championships last year. An encore is on top of their agenda.
Gaurav Gill, an APRC veteran, and promising Finnish ace Esapekka Lappi will be behind the wheels of MRF’s powerful Skoda Fabia S2000 cars. The full-blooded association with Czech car giants Skoda is a shot in the arm for the champions. MRF’s relationship with Skoda was similar to customer-company last year. This year it’s like a marriage and the consummation will be complete with the overall title at the end of the seventh round in Thailand.
An APRC title is missing from Gill’s cabinet and he is out to rectify the anomaly. “I start every season with the hope of winning the title. I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he said.
Gill is hoping to take part in the Australian round of the WRC later this year provided he is able to muster sponsorship and he is looking forward to complete the unfinished business in the APRC.
Lappi, who looks every bit Finnish, topped the shakedown on Friday morning by completing a 1.25km super special stage in 1:02.9 seconds. The Finnish national rally champion made it clear that he is in the APRC to win the crown. Finns know how to do it. But the MRF driver doesn’t know what makes his countrymen excel at rallying. He, sure, does have great a sense of humour. When asked whether he got some tips from former APRC drivers from Finland, the baby-faced Lappi deadpanned: “Take your own food to all the rallies.”
The weatherman got it right for a change. Rain had been forecast for Friday and the shakedown did happen under wet conditions. Gill and Lappi weren’t complaining, though. Wet conditions aren’t bad for early cars. Both MRF drivers will be out first on Saturday. Lappi did, in fact, thank the rain gods during the press conference. Gill has got a challenge from his own team in the 16-stage, 730-km Rally of Whangarei.