Gaurav Gill was seemingly all set to storm through the Rally of Whangarei (New Zeland) until a broken gearbox hampered his progress. On Saturday, Gaurav had aggressively blitzed through the stages at the third leg of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Like usual everyone was expecting him to occupy podium spot on Sunday’s race specially after witnessing his highly impressive driving. But unfortunately, fate had charted other plans.
The gearbox on Gaurav’s Mitsubushi Evo X car developed a problem in the first stage of rally. A few kilometers into the rally, the gearbox broke and Gaurav had to manage only with second gear. The Indian ace still made a fabulous attempt at braving the odds. Gaurav had to drive with a broken gearbox for the third time this year. After a few minutes, the car’s defroster too broke down leading to a misty front windscreen. He had no other choice but to drive with the car’s windows down amidst a heavy downpour!
At the post rally press conference Gaurav made his frustration visible. He said that during the rally while his competitors were doing speeds of 150-200 kmph, he was stuck at 70-80 kmph. When further quizzed about the gearbox failure, Gill commented that he had no explanation as to how it happened. He further admitted that the conditions at the rally were tough but the gearbox problem was totally unexpected. Finally, he had to be content only with a 5-point bonus which he earned owing to his second place finish on Saturday.
Provisional Results:
1. Hayden Paddon/ John Kennard
2. Alister McRae/ Bill Hayes
3. Dean Summer/ Paul Fallon
Image Source: fiaaprc