Gill rules day 1 of Rally of Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Seven-time National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif), turning out for JK Tyre’s, finished on top of the overall table on day one of the Rally of Coimbatore 2022 here, which is the second round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).

On Saturday, Gill, who loves to hit top speeds, decided to go easy for once. The average speed clocked was just 70 kmph, but that is the way he approached the day from the start. “For a World Rally Championship (WRC) driver like me, it is bad. I always touch speeds of 100 kmph and above. That is where you show your skill but, this time around, I wanted to bring the car home safely,” said Gill.

Driving the XUV300, Gill managed a solid lead of one minute and 37 seconds over his nearest rival Karna Kadur, who is currently second. He held a cushion of one minute and 50 seconds over Arjun Rao, who is third.

Gill was quite pleased with his show. “I am happy that it ended the way we had planned the day,” said the 40-year-old Gill, adding that he and Musa were correcting pace notes while on the move.

“Because we had never done such a distance on this car. There is 25 minutes of non-stop driving on loose gravel, where there is so much wheel spin. There was so much heat as well. The engines, turbo, drive shafts and gears are not designed to have so much heat, so as a driver, you need to be smart,” added Gill.