Japan APRC: Gill controls Leg 1 proceedings
Championship leader Gaurav Gill commanded first leg of Rally Hokkaido, winning eight out the 11 stages to establish a comfortable lead over Team MRF teammate Fabian Kreim.
Gaurav Gill, Stephane Prévot, Skoda Fabia R5, Team MRF
APRC
After trailing Kreim (co-driver Frank Christian) by one tenth of a second in the opening stage on Friday, Gill (co-driver Stephane Prevot) turned the tables by winning six stages in succession on Saturday.
The Indian then topped SS9 and SS11, ending the day with a total time of 1hr03m44.5s, which was 1m24.9s clear of Kreim, the German salvaging wins in SS8 and SS10.
The German overcame lack of rear grip and puncture in the early stages to close the gap to the 2013 APRC champion, but was unable to go past the Indian in the end.
Behind the leading duo, Mike Young (co-driver Malcolm Read) in the Cusco Racing's Subaru was over two minutes from Gill's time.
Meanwhile, Hitoshi Takayama (co-driver Hideki Takeyabu) was fourth fastest in the leading Mitsubishi with Satoshi Imai (co-driver Jason Ronald Farmer) finishing three minutes adrift in fifth.
In a longer grid for the Japanese round, Eiichi Iwashita (co-driver Akihiko Takahashi) and Fuyuhiko Takahashi (co-driver Mitsuo Nakamura) were classified sixth and seventh respectively.
Sanjay Takle (co-driver Noriko Takeshita), the other Indian returning after missing China round, completed the leg in 1hr14m14.0s to finish eighth fastest in the Subaru.
Mitsubishi's Wataru Aono (co-driver Yuko Mitsukuri) and Subaru's Hiroshi Hoshino (Tsuyoshi Kobayashi) completed the top 10.
19 drivers made it to the end in Leg 1 action on a partly damp track with 10 stages run adding to the lone stage on Friday. Seven more stages on Sunday will decide the winner of the fourth round.
Leg 1 results - Top 10:
Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Gaurav Gill Stephane Prevot |
Skoda | 1:03:44.5 | |
2 | Fabian Kreim Frank Christian |
Skoda | 1:05:09.4 | +1:24.9 |
3 | Mike Young Malcolm Read |
Subaru | 1:06:04.5 | +2:20.0 |
4 | Hitoshi Takayama Hideki Takeyabu |
Subaru | 1:06:21.1 | +2:36.6 |
5 |
Satoshi Imai Jason Farmer |
Mitsubishi |
1:09:27.0 | +5:42.5 |
6 | Eiichi Iwashita Akihiko Takahashi |
Mitsubishi | 1:10:41.4 | +6:56.9 |
7 | Fuyuhiko Takahashi Mitsuo Nakamura |
Subaru | 1:12:51.8 | +9:07.3 |
8 | Sanjay Takale Noriko Takeshita |
Subaru | 1:14:14.0 | +10:29.5 |
9 | Waturo Aono Yuko Mitsukuri |
Mitsubishi | 1:14:44.8 | +11:00.3 |
10 |
Hiroshi Hoshino Tsuyoshi Kobayashi |
Subaru |
1:15:15.9 | +11:31.4 |
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