After sweeping a clean victory on the domestic soil in the Rally of Coimbatore, Gaurav Gill is all set to participate in the Secto Rally Finland of the World Rally Championship scheduled from August 4-7.
This will be the second appearance of the seven-time INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) Champion and three-time APRC (Asia-Pacific Rally Championship) Champion at the international platform of WRC2 this year.
After the dusty and rugged terrains of Kenya, Gill would take on his wheels across the forests around Jyvaskyla and Central Finland.
The Delhi-based driver and the only Arjuna Awardee for motorsport will be driving the Skoda Fabia R5 Rally2 car of Motorsport Italia. This car comes with 290bhp of power and 425Nm of torque capacity. He will be supported by his Brazilian co-driver, Gabriel Morales.
He will be competing with the likes of the reigning FIA Junior WRC Champion – Finnish driver Sami Pajari who also makes his second WRC2 start in a Škoda. Emil Lindholm, who will be seen in a Toksport-prepared Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo and Teemu Suninen, will be fielding a Hyundai i20 N Rally2.
Gill made a strong comeback to the world racing arena after a gap of two years at the WRC2 Kenya Safari Rally in June this year. He showed his mastery behind the wheels which won him accolades not just from his team but also from the international motorsport fraternity and his fellow drivers.
Given his impressive performance in the challenging terrains of Kenya, his team Motorsport Italia decided to place their bets on him in the Secto Rally Finland.
“Rally Finland is a special event in terms of very high speed and the incredible route of wide and smooth gravel roads consisting of many blind crests and jumps. Gabriel and I will have to have seamless coordination as Rally Finland is all about driving a correct racing line and having perfect pacenotes,” said Gill.
Scot Rally Finland, the fastest rally in WRC calendar will cover a total distance of 1414.77 kms over 4 days starting with the Shakedown on Thursday. The Rally has over 323.38 kms of Special stages with speeds recorded of up to 216km/h.
The Ruuhimaki stage sees drivers make jumps of almost 70m and there is an unrivalled atmosphere at the night-time stage in Jyvaskyla.
