Gill gears up for top finish

May 23, 2010 - Ritika Gupta |

India’s MRF driver Gaurav Gill ended the 12th stage of the 18-stage Rally Hokkaido, the second leg of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, on a high with a dramatic 5.1-second lead over teammate Katsuhiko Taguchi here on Saturday.
H. Yanagisawa is on the third spot, 8.4 seconds behind Gill. The narrow difference will keep these top three contenders on their toes even as World Rally Champion Chris Atkinson and former British Rally champion Alister Mcrae crashed out of contention in stage five and six respectively. That seemed the end of Team Proton’s journey as they can only vie for points in Rally Hokkaido.
Gill is not very satisfied with his finish after squandering his 27-second comfortable lead as well the opportunity to seal the rally early.
“The car suffered a broken left drive shaft in the 10th stage, which caused imbalance and cost me a lot of time. I was practically driving only on the rear wheels. That is where I lost out,” said Gill.
“Apart from that I did not have any problems. I want to keep this pace and do well tomorrow,” he added.
Gill’s teammate Taguchi, who won the Malaysia leg, said, “I had a puncture where I lost out on time. But on the whole, it was a good race.”
Earlier in the day, Gill finished behind Proton’s McRae in the second stage. He then bettered his ride finishing 10 seconds ahead of teammate Taguchi.
In the fifth stage Taguchi finished fastest — a second ahead of Yanagisawa. While Proton’s Mcrae held the third spot, Gill settled for the fourth with three seconds.
Gill then capitalised on Proton’s sorrow as both drivers — Atkinson and Mcrae —crashed out in the fifth and sixth stage respectively after facing engine trouble.
Meanwhile, Taguchi played an excellent role sweeping the gravel off the slope as he was leading the pack. Despite victories in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th stages, Taguchi could not beat Gill in the overall timings due to the puncture.
Standings after 12th stage: 1. Gaurav Gill 1:30:37:4; 2. Katsu Taguchi 1:30:42.5; 3. H.Yanagisawa 1:30:50.9.

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