Story: Staff Writer
Indian driver Guarav Gill won the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) category of the International Rally of Queensland with a consistent driving display while rivals fell around him in the forests of the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Gill and New Zealand co-driver Glen Macneall of the Indian-based MRF Mitsubishi team won only one of the event’s 18 special stages, on Friday night, but were rarely out of the top three during a test of 268km for round four of the 2010 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
Victorian brothers Glen and Matt Raymond, running a Mitsubishi Lancer on a wildcard entry intended to encourage up-and-coming competitors, scored second place and one of the best results of their career, ahead of the other MRF crew of Katsuhiko Taguchi (Japan) and Chris Murphy (Australia). The Raymonds also won round two of the Pacific Cup, which will conclude with round three in New Caledonia at the end of this month. Taguchi retained the lead in the Asia Pacific Championship, with rounds still to run in Indonesia and New Caledonia, but Gill closed the gap today to only two points.
Blistering speed was not lacking either in the Proton R3 Malaysia factory-backed cars of Queenslander Chris Atkinson and Scotland’s Alister McRae. What could have been crushing victory ended with disappointment. Atkinson won six of the final day’s eight stages and five on Day One, but was unable to figure in the final official classification after having to retire on Day One when his motor stalled in a creek crossing.
British Rally Champion McRae won a total of four stages but retired with mechanical problems on the second stage today. Seven of the original 11 Asia Pacific entrants did not finish. Atkinson said: “We were very fast, (but) we were just a bit unlucky this weekend which is a real shame. We had the potential to win the rally and it’s good to be back on these roads, they’re good fun to drive on. It’s a shame we couldn’t do it here, we’re really disappointed obviously and disappointed for the whole team. It’s frustrating but that’s rallying, it’s a tough sport, you’ve got to get to the end. I think a win’s just around the corner; (we need) a little bit of luck to go our way and it’ll be all perfect.”