After the first four rounds of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) Team MRF Skoda drivers Jan Kopecky - defending FIA European Rally champion - and defending APRC champion Gaurav Gill were seperated by just eight points with both having scored two wins, a second place and suffered a retirement each.
The penultimate round of the APRC in Hokkaido, Japan (from September 26 to 28) was meant to be a terrific showdown between two experienced champions and Gill certainly showed himself up for the fight against the more experienced Kopecky by opening out a 22-second lead over the Czech driver after the first seven of eleven stages on the opening leg of the rally.
Gill took the stage win in four stages while Kopecky took the other three but was still a fair distance back from the Indian rally champion.
A high speed crash on the eighth stage of the day for Gill, however, ended his involvement in the rally, handing over the APRC crown to Jopecky along with Team MRF Skoda.
One more round remains in China on November 7 to 9.
“I was a little surprised this morning that Jan was faster than me on the first stage, but after that I dug in and put in some good (stages) times to take the lead," said Gill. "We were not pushing, looking after the car is really important here. It's a shame what happened as the car felt really good this weekend.”
“It’s unfortunate what happened to Gaurav, we were having a good battle but these roads are very unforgiving," said newly crowned APRC champion Kopecky. “The car was great, the team was great and I would like to thank everyone from Team MRF Skoda to making this possible. They did an amazing job these past five rallies and hopefully we can do it again in China”.
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