Gill paves the way for Kopecky’s lead
Going into the season-opening Rally of Whangarei, defending champion Gaurav Gill’s worst fear was gravel heavy roads nullifying the advantage of being the first car on course. Not only did the nightmare come true, Gill also paved the way, literally, for his MRF teammate Jan Kopecky to take the lead by sweeping those gravels off the line. At the end of day one, Kopecky stormed to a healthy 23.1s lead over Gill and looks set for a memorable APRC debut.
Bucking weather predictions for rain, the first day of the competition was decided by two varying factors -- dust and gravel -- on fast flowing roads of the picturesque countryside. The premier APRC category with seven entries was a two-horse contest with MRF drivers making a clean sweep of all the eight stages -- Kopecky won five, while Gill three.
It was Kopecky who drew the first blood by claiming the honours in the 15.05km Otakairangi stage. The Czech extended his lead to 9.3s at the end of the second run, the longest of the rally with a distance of 32.6km. The Indian did bounce back to cut down the deficit to 5.4s before the drivers regrouped for afternoon service. Kopecky was within striking distance until the 20km Tapuhi run on a windy valley road. Steep uphill climbs and a strong bed of gravel posed a stern challenge for the No.1 car and Gill ended up 17.9s off the pace.
“I drove very conservatively, thinking that if I over drive, I might overheat the tyres. After the recce only we knew that it would be difficult to win the rally. If not for the 17 seconds lost, if it had been around 510, it could have been a lot more closer,” said Gill.
Sunday’s six remaining special stages take teams south of their Whangarei city base and to roads familiar to Gill. “We are now sec- ond in the starting order. If there is as much gravel as day one, there are chances that the situation might be completely reversed. I will give it my best shot,” added Gill.
Gill said his lack of seat time in the off-season could hamper his progress up against his illustrious teammate who is a development driver for Czech-based Skoda. “Considering that I have not done any driving for six months, I am quite happy with the outcome. The driving needs to be precise. That’s where I struggled coming from a break.”
Kopecky said the emphasis will be on not making mistake on Sunday. “I am quite happy with the day one results but I am not pushing too hard as I am not familiar with the stages and tyres. So I have to find a rhythm and the speed to know how much I can push to be safe and finish,” said the European champion.