For the first time in four races, Team MRF did not finish on the podium as the Malaysian Rally, the fourth leg of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship ended in a one-horse race with just one team in the reckoning for the title.
In what was an uneventful final day, the New Zealand pair of Michael Young and Malcolm Read of Cusco Racing climbed the podium by virtue of being the only team to finish all the 15 stages of this difficult and unforgiving Malaysian rally, on Sunday.
A combination of bad luck, technical error and of course, the extreme conditions in this city put paid to MRF’s hopes as far as this round was concerned but the flamboyant Gaurav Gill, who had to retire after the fourth stage on Saturday owing to a radiator problem, came back to finish the course and leap to the top of the table on the final day.
Given the dropouts, especially with teammate and rival Esapekka Lappi’s withdrawal on the second day, Gill, thankful that the sturdy Skoda Fabia S2000 held up, cruised through the seven stages on the day with daylight between him and the rest of three drivers in the fray.
Gill, known for his speed and knowledge of the circuit, reined himself in to finish on top of the 81.82 km course spread over two sessions. It fetched the feisty Delhiite seven points and with it vaulted back into the lead for the championship, edging out Lappi by a narrow 0.5 margin with two rounds to go.
It was clear the previous night that Gill (co-driver Glenn Macneall) wouldn’t do anything fancy and he stuck to his task on the day. “We just basically cruised through the stages and if you look at our timings today you will realise we were pretty slow compared to yesterday. But that’s all we had to do and I’m happy to get back into the lead,” said Gill.
Having said that, it was obvious the Indian could have stretched his lead to a higher level if not for Saturday’s pace note disaster. “It’s obvious I could have had a handy lead if not for yesterday but that’s the way this rally goes. I get to drive just six times in the car in a year and have to switch off and switch on when I’m not in APRC. But my ultimate aim is to drive in the WRC,” said the Indian driver.
Young, meanwhile, driving a Toyota Vitz-RS, gave Cusco their first major boost by just finishing the course.