Ace Indian rally driver Gaurav Gill displayed a gritty performance in his third outing in World Rally Championship (WRC) Acropolis Rally Greece this past weekend. Gill, after his resolute outing in Finland and Kenya, displayed yet another persistent drive at the Acropolis Rally in the WRC2 category as he maneuvered past twisty gravel mountain roads combined with high temperatures and choking dust to provide a fierce challenge. While Emil Lindholm and co-driver Reeta Hamalainen in their Skoda Fabia Evo remained unchallenged the entire weekend to secure back-to-back victories in WRC2, current championship leader Andreas Mikkelsen and co-driver Torstein Eriksen finished 7th.
“The Acropolis Rally has been one of the toughest rallies that have put our car and tyres to extreme tests. It was a tough weekend where we faced multiple issues but that’s how this Rally treats you. Almost zero visibility forced us to stop every few km as it was dangerous, but overall, it was a unique experience for Gabriel and me,” said Gaurav.
The weekend was the ultimate test of man and machine and Gill showed immense grit and pushed his car to the extremes in the baking heat of Athens. Blinding dust trails with almost negligible visibility, bent lower arms, and completely worn-out tyres made the drive even more challenging and dangerous, but the JK Tyre driver kept his pace in all the stages. On Saturday after stage 8, Gill was placed 9th in his class with a difference of 30.8 seconds from the championship leader Mikkelsen. Gill worked up his pace and upgraded himself through the remaining stages of the event. In the penultimate scene, Gill gave a tough fight and outpaced Mikkelsen and Martin Prokop, trailing the Indian racer by 8 seconds in Stage 15.
Gill was 7.49 minutes off from the WRC 2 leader Lindholm across special stages of 303 km out of a total distance of 1,192 km and concluded his campaign @ 1.5 sec per km off the pace from the factory team driver. It indeed was a celebratory moment for Gill as he left the championship frontrunner Mikkelsen, 4 seconds behind in the final stage of the rally. Clocking some of his best times, Gill was just 3 seconds off per km to far superior cars including overall WRC leader Thierry Neuville, driving a Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid.
At the end of three gruelling days, Gill sealed 6th finish in WRC 2 in a grid of 35 cars and 12th overall in 70 grid Acropolis Rally Greece. The Acropolis Rally Greece covered a total distance of 1,192 km including 16 Special stages of 303 km.
