Gaurav’s Hopes Dashed
11/10/2008

It’s the end of the road for Gaurav Gill and his co-driver Jagdev Singh in the Ancom Malaysian Rally 2008.

They had their sights set on winning the FIA Pirelli Star Driver competition and, following their win in Indonesia recently, may have had a place on the podium for the sixth round of the APRC here in Johor, Malaysia.

It was not to be. The wrong choice of tyres in SS1 meant they lost some time and finished third in the Pirelli Star line-up for that stage. But after changing to tyres more suitable for the wet, slippery stages, they picked up the pace and by SS3 they were the leader of the ten Pirelli hopefuls.

The MRF Tyres Rally Team members were flying through SS4 when a rock hidden in a mud puddle, flew up under the bumper and knocked the pipe off the oil cooler of their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

“It was very bad luck. What we didn’t know, or expect, was that there were rocks under the mud. We limped to the end of the stage but I think the damage was done. We pushed the car to the main road, but we already had done some serious engine damage. So we won’t be starting tomorrow,” said Jagdev.