Driving for Team MRF Skoda, alongside navigator Glenn Macneall, Indian star Gaurav Gill described winning the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship as an “amazing feeling” after he grabbed the coveted title with a second place finish in the China Rally in Longyou on Sunday.
Gill finished runner-up to team-mates Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm in his Fabia Super 2000. Gill’s title triumph is the second in a row for the Race Torque Engineering-run Team MRF operation following Chris Atkinson’s success in 2012. Skoda has successfully defended its APRC Manufacturers’ crown, while Team MRF Skoda is the winner of the APRC Teams’ award ahead of Cusco Racing of Japan.
“We’re really happy,” said Skoda Motorsport’s Pavel Hortek. “We fulfilled what we planned to do at the beginning of the season, to win again all the championships in both categories.”
Gill, 31, has enjoyed a hugely successful APRC season in 2013 with victories in New Caledonia and Japan and second-place finishes in New Zealand and China.
Championship positions (after the six rounds):Drivers’ champion: Gaurav Gill; Co-drivers’ champion: Glenn Macneall; Manufacturers’ champion: Skoda; Teams’ champion: Team MRF Skoda; Production Cup champion: Sanjay Takale.
Junior Cup champion: Michael Young; 2WD champion: Michael Young.
