Ace Indian rally champion Gaurav Gill has broken down barriers to become the first motorsport athlete to be nominated for the Arjuna Awards, after being ignored for the last three years.
Speaking to The Hindu , Gill said, “I am extremely happy that my efforts have been finally recognised. But more importantly it a big step not just for me but for the whole sport. I thank the committee members and the sports ministry to have nominated me.”
“The recognition this award gives will inspire another set of youngsters and more importantly sponsors and companies to invest in promising talent.”
Gill also added that he has plans to meet the Sports Minister and seek help to promote motorsports in the country.
“All our parts are very expensive and made after extensive R&D and are the best in quality. So we would like the government to relax import duty since we use the cars and parts for sporting purposes and not for any commercial purpose. A ₹5 lakh part costs us ₹9 lakh which doesn’t help.”
Gill who is a multiple Asia-Pacific Rally Champion (2013, 2016 and 2017) is now preparing for yet another assault at the World Rally Championship (WRC-2) class next month and is expected to take part in three WRC-2 round (Turkey, Great Britain and Australia) with his backers JK Tyres.
“We will be using the latest edition of the Ford Fiesta R5 machine and I am extremely excited with JK tyres to compete. We will do these events in preparation for a full entry next year and I have some exciting partners on board.”
