I enjoyed sharing my experiences in the PWRC and APRC events from 2009 in my last post. I wanted to dedicate a separate article to the eventful Indian National Rally Championship 2009 as I was making a return to the Indian championship after a gap of 1 year in which I concentrated on my international rallying career. And I must say that it was an extremely eventful comeback for me, both on and off the tracks!

The INRC is a very important championship for my team and sponsors and I was extremely keen to contribute to Team MRF’s cause. I was excited about the entry of the more powerful 200 BHP+ Group N cars into the championship; this was an exciting opportunity to attack the stages with some serious power on hand. I was looking forward to the challenge, I also was aware of the strong driver lineup that our principal competitors, Red Roosted Racing had agglomerated, and I was very keen to take them on at events across India.

In my team, I could sense desire to get back on the top-step, MRF was committed to winning the INRC this season and I wanted to do it for the boys. By the time the season got going, I was totally focused on the challenge. I knew that it would not be a cakewalk given the good opposition we had this time but I was sure that if we got a reliable set-up, we were definitely fast-enough, or faster. My team boss, Mr. Antony Rodricks was especially keen to have us only on the top spot and it was my job to make sure we did not disappoint him and our supporters.

The first rally of the season was in Coimbatore, and it started with a bang!! Unfortunately for us, the bang was from the engine. We were only a few kilometers into the stage, and the engine blew- there was a massive hole in the engine block. Game over.

One of the biggest lessons motorsport has taught me is to fight and our failure at Coimbatore made me even more determined to come back stronger.

The next event was in Kolkata. We made it a mission to win here and win big. I was fastest across all the stages, sometimes by minutes. Winning in Kolkata was a great experience; our rivals were claiming all along that they had superior tyre technology and my team took this to heart: the result was for everyone to see. We won every single stage of the rally.

The Chicmaglur event was a very interesting juncture in the championship. Any of the top 4 drivers could win the championship. I had a slender lead but it was important for me to finish on the podium to wrap up the title. We finished the day in the lead with all fastest stages but one where I had gearbox problems. As the event drew to a close the performance of my team on the track was there for everyone to see- I won the rally and was joined by my teammates on the podium. With this win, I had sealed the 2009 Indian National Rally Championship.

The opposition camp was clearly not very pleased about the MRF clean-sweep. Just like they had gone to protest the Bangalore K1000 result where team MRF had last swept the podium positions, they again lodged a protest against our cars with the stewards. Despite these appeals and protest, Team MRF and I, eventually came out victorious, proving once that rallies are won on the stages and NOT IN COURTS.

Overall, I was pleased with my showing in the INRC; we managed a result for which I had worked extra hard as a lot of people were out there to get me on my return to the Indian championship. I found the competition to be quite fierce and spirited, the cars were remarkably quicker than their last avatars, and overall the quality of events was good. I’m definitely coming back to defend my title next year, I hope you would continue to support and encourage me. The preparations are in full swing and I will keep you posted on how things progress.

Tagged as: gaurav gill inrc, india rally championship, inrc mrf, red rooster, red rooster racing

2009 was an extremely exciting and challenging year from a professional standpoint. I kept a busy calendar and dabbled in new and unique experiences that I cherish greatly. I reached many personal milestones and performed well in some very challenging conditions.

It was a year of new and varied engagements; I drove three different cars for three different team set-ups, with three different navigators and three different championships. It was also a year of numerous firsts and some pioneering ventures for me and my teams.

I drove in the Production World Rally Championships (PWRC), the Asia Pacific Rally Championship(APRC) and our very own Indian National Rally Championship(INRC). Suffice to say that 2009 was a very busy year for me.

The year started with a trial by fire in the PWRC. I was driving the feisty Subaru Impreza STi for Team Sidvin India. Besides being my proud privilege to have represented the country, it was also a huge learning experience for me as the WRC is a completely different animal- the cars are much faster, the route challenging and there are many more variables to consider. I particularly enjoyed interacting with Tommi Makkinen who was developing our cars and supporting our team.

I competed in the Cyprus and Portugal rounds of the 2009 championship and ran well. In Portugal, we were running 4^th before suffering a mechanical setback that made us finish in 7^th place. Owing to logistical challenges and team sponsor issues, we pulled out of the PWRC and I decided to concentrate on the APRC and devote my complete attention to Team MRF duties.

We drive factory supported Mitsubishi Ralliart cars in the APRC and this time I was given the Mitsubishi Evo X, which was being run and tested for the first time in any competitive championship. This was again a huge honor and responsibility for me as Ralliart was counting on the feedback from us to aid further development of their flagship motorsport platform.

The car had absolutely no test miles and everyone knew that it was going to be a very rigorous development programme. I was excited, I considered this to be a great learning experience for me and also for the Mitsubishi Ralliart engineers. You might be aware that the Evo X has some of the most advanced electronic systems onboard, the task got even more challenging considering the new firmware that our cars were running. I could feel the car get better drastically through the season. The onus to continually develop the car and perform at the one of the highest level of professional motorsport was a great high for me.

I’m very proud of the fact that throughout the season, I consistently posted faster times than my team mate, Katsu Taguchi who was running a much more evolved and stable Evo IX platform.

We started our APRC season in Australia with a brand new car and immediately started having massive brake and engine problems. Despite these debilitating factors, we managed to run third throughout the rally; unfortunately, we picked up a puncture in the last stage and lost a lot of time. We had a rather dramatic finish to the rally, we pulled into the service park on three wheels!!! My guess is that the team did not enjoy it as much! I finished Rally Australia in 4^th position. I consider it a good result given the under-developed car and my unlucky last stage puncture.

We then moved to New Zealand, a beautiful event that is known for its fast sweeping corners and long stages(sometimes upto 35 kilometers). Considering the brakes issues we had in Australia, I knew this was going to be a challenging event for our team. We noticed that our brakes we catching fire on some of the longer stages. The rally came to a premature end for me when I hit a wooden fence, damagingthe oil cooler, at the time of the accident, we were running 4^th overall.

After that we were off to Rally Hokkaido, Japan. This was a home event for our manufacturers and they did a great job of setting up the car for the local conditions. The car performed admirably and we set the fastest stage times consistently. Fastest stage times are a uniquely fulfilling experience for a rally driver as it is a measure of your relative speed to competition; I must say I enjoy these little treats. Bad luck hit us again and the brakes failed, we had a soft roll that put us out of contention. I rejoined under the super-rally format and earned bonus points for stage and leg times.

The next APRC event was in Malaysia, a rally where I was confident of doing very well as I had competed there previously. Moreover, I could acclimatize very quickly and felt at home. The brakes were a worry area for us on the Evo X and yet again we had massive brake issues in the stages. The rally ended for us when we had multiple punctures and had to stop mid-stage to change tires, the jack collapsed in the mud and our chances went with it. I rejoined in the super rally and posted 5 fastest stage times out of six- this gave the team a lot of heart, we had the speed against our competition, it was only the reliability that we had to find. Post Malaysia, I was confident that we were heading in the right direction with our car’s development.

We moved to Rally Indonesia. This would definitely rate as my favorite rally on the calendar as this was the venue of my first APRC win. The team confidence is high as Brembo and Mitubishi had worked hard at trying to solve our braking problems, they came with a new compound for the hot temperatures we were to encounter at the Gudam Garam Rally, and to my delight and they were spot on. We were also running freshly developed MRF tyres and managed to clock the fastest times through the stages. But bad luck came to haunt us again, the gearbox blew just as we were looking to repeat our past years success. We later found a manufacturing defect to be the cause of this failure. We again rejoined in the super rally format. Posting fastest stage times yet again, we managed to get the maximum possible bonus points.

The last event of the APRC season was Rally China, undoubtedly the most difficult rally of the calendar- it called for some superhuman driving and was also challenging in terms of the reliability of the vehicle. The terrain was tough, consisting mainly of mountain roads which were hard and abrasive on the tyres and the suspension. We had started the rally with a very soft tyre compound and paid for it dearly very early on, we had two punctures in the first two stages and lost time. We decided to radically change our tyre choice and opted for the hardest tyre compound we had. Immediately we improved and were only a second slower than Cody who was leading the event.

As I look back on the season, I would like to thank my co-driver, Glen. He’s become a great friend and I’ve learnt a lot from him- he’s a great co-driver, a driver coach and an engineer. I’d say he’s the perfect package, and a great foil for me. I can say that I’ve been getting quicker as we do more events together and I hope we can take these learning into the next season when we are targeting to win the championship for Team MRF and India.

I also competed in the INRC in 2009 and would write a separate report for the National Championship as I believe it deserves it own place. Watch out for my INRC report in the next few days.

Tagged as: APRC, gaurav gill pwrc, rallying

At the end of what seemed to be one of the most unpredictable and dramatic rally weekends for TSI Racing, Gaurav Gill emerged overall seventh in the PWRC Rally in Faro, Portugal.

Incidentally, this was the same position he secured in the last rally in Cyprus before his car unfortunately stalled in the last stage. However, Gill showed excellent driving skills emerging overall seventh and bringing home two points.

Speaking from Faro, Mr. Mohan Nagarajan, Team Principal said, “This is a dream come true. I am so happy that this is the first time in history an Indian team on an international platform has made a mark and brought home points. All the credit goes to the team and Gaurav for displaying such amazing driving skills. It can only get better now.”

via Hindu

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Tagged as: gaurav, gaurav gill, gaurav pwrc, gaurav rally, india rally driver, indian driver, pwrc india, rally cyprus, rallying india, sidvin, team sidvin

Gaurav Gill retired in the last transport stage after finishing seventh in the Production World Rally Championship’s Cyprus rally after his car stalled, according to an official press release. Gill also lost out on the championship point that he would have earned for finishing seventh.

Gill almost made up lost ground on Sunday despite overnight rains in Limassol, that resulted in damp and muddy conditions.
The day featured three stages spread over 82.27km and Gaurav initially suffered a rock-hit.

Gaurav said: “We were going fast but hit a boulder on the left which bent the left front anti roll bar and damaged the steering arm. However we were committed to finish the stage at any cost.” After that, he drove flat out but could only move up five places from his earlier 12th position.

Rally pictures

Input from: Hindu

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We are delighted to share with you that Gaurav Gill would be competing for the 2009 Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the 2009 Production Car World Championship.

Watch this space for more rally news, schedules, activities and multimedia content!

Check out Gaurav’s 2009 Rally Calendar

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Gaurav Gill of Team Sidvin India crashed out of the Wales Rally GB after battling treacherous weather conditions in Wales on Friday.

Gill, who was optimistic of making an impact in his P-WRC debut, was 15th by the second stage — Sweet Lamb 1 — timing a neat 3:17.6secs as he covered 4.28km. But the next stage — Myherin 1 — proved decisive as he rolled the car, unaware of the ice formation and poor road conditions.

Of the six stages scheduled for the day, the first was cancelled due to ice formation while the second and third were cut by half. But that didn’t prevent chaos from reigning in the 18.28km third stage as at least ten cars went off the road. Local hope Mark Higgins bowed out while PWRC leader Juho Hanninen lost his front wheel drive.

Click here of more Rally Pictures

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Gaurav Gill will replace Naren Kumar as Team Sidvin India’s driver for the Rally of Wales from December 4 to 7. 

In a decision that reflected TSI’s definite shift towards youth and raw aggression, Gill, 26, will do one World Rally Championship (Production class) event this year before the team takes a call on who will be its representative in 2009.

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After Narain Karthikeyan (A1GP) & Karun Chandhok (GP2) it was the turn of Gaurav Gill to rewrite history. In the fifth round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, Gill driving for Team MRF earned the honours of becoming the first Indian to win an APRC round. He did that in style with a yawning gap of 1 minute 6.9 seconds between him and Taguchi, who finished second.
 

 “I was determined to do well here and get on the podium,” said a jubilant Gill after the race. Praising his codriver, Gill added, “Jagdev (Singh) has been of great help to me because he has been co-driving Karamjeet, the ex-world champion in PWRC (Production World Rally Championship). Katsuhiko Taguchi completed a perfect weekend for team MRF beating Motor Image’s Cody Crocker to finish second giving the Indian team a 1-2 finish.

Gaurav Gill - APRC 2008 Interview

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Tagged as: APRC, gaurav gill, gill, india rally driver, indian, japan, pwrc, pwrc india