A broken rear suspension for Jan Kopecky (co-driver Pavel Dresler) put defending champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Glenn Macneall) firmly in charge of the Malaysian Rally, the fourth round of this year’s Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, here on Saturday.
The incident in Special Stage six (Tai Tak Fish Pond) put the 32-year-old Czech out of the overall classification but he can still race on Sunday and bag some bonus points. Until then, Kopecky had won three of the five stages and built up a lead of 1:14.8s.
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“This can happen sometimes,” said Kopecky. “I was quite surprised by the stages. I have to say it’s one of the most difficult rallies.”
Gill now leads his nearest challenger, China’s Xu Jun, by 9:13.6s. A win here — with two more rounds to go in Japan and China — will put him within touching distance of Kopecky who came into the rally with an overall lead of 39 points in the championship.
“Maybe it’s better for the championship and the spectators,” Kopecky said. “For the team, it’s important that at least one car is winning.”
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With six more stages to go on the final day and a more than comfortable lead of over nine minutes, it will be important for the experienced Gill to finish the race.
“Malaysia is all about finishing the rally,” said Gill. “It’s the most difficult rally of the season, and one of the toughest in the world. We’ll look at the conditions in the morning. If the conditions are tricky, we will back off. It’s not worth the risk. If it’s dry, then we can go hard and try and win the day.”
The standings (day one, eight stages): 1. Gaurav Gill (Ind) 1:55:11.9s; 2. Xu Jun (Chn) 2:04:25.5s; 3. Mark Pedder (Aus) 2:05:33.4s; 4. Sanjay Takle (Ind) 2:14:36.5s; 5. Michael Young (Nzl) 2:20:09.0s.
(N. Sudarshan is in Johor Bahru at the invitation of MRF) .