Driving his “baby” through the winding roads in Malaysia, the rugged terrain in New Caledonia and the breathtakingly beauty of New Zealand, Asia Pacific Defending Rally Champion 2013 Gaurav Gill has little time for the picturesque vista. Though he loves the outdoors. His goal is the chequered flag, and his mind is on his machine and manoeuvres.
The guy who celebrated his birthday on December 2 won the Malaysian Rally, the fourth round of 2014’s APRC and was the runner-up, and later did well in the INRC with his co-driver Musa Sharif. Gaurav of Team MRF has been in the midst of revving engines, terrain recces and sheer belief as that’s where true skills take precedence. He prefers to pull all his punches in the rallying arena, after he and his team work diligently and almost irreverently on the perfectly souped up and purring machine.
Gaurav loves the scientific nature of racing where precision and research are key, and is also in history books for becoming the first Indian driver to win the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. Since then, the agenda is clear — to work on his car, his technique, with his able team MRF and emerge victor — which 2014 saw his team do time and time again.
“I stay focused and have a will to win and a commitment to do my best. I am always competing with myself and this keeps me motivated. I have also had strong team-mates,” says Gaurav, who is taking a break from the smoke, asphalt and power now. He admits that he has been busy rallying and is looking forward to a skiing vacation in Gulmarg — A week-long respite with his wife and three-year-old son is just what he needs to recoup and vroom again.
The rally champ is a doting father and it is apparent in the joy emanating when he talks about his little racer boy, Arjun who is quite the motor sports buff. “My son is almost three and it’s a good time for him to learn to ski too. He also has pretty good motoring skills, but gets bored easily,” Gaurav adds. A chip of the old block, we ask? He laughs in agreement. “Since I have a sports car at home, a BMW M3, Arjun was adamant that he also wanted the same car to race around in like his Daddy! Now, I have gotten him a replica, which he calls his ‘baby race car’, reveals the hands-on father who has taken his son to many a race day to see the little one’s eyes shine bright at the machines and the mayhem..
He is busy with his two 3M Car Care Systems showrooms (with partners). Currently, the winters in Delhi have given the Gills some time to socialise, and it’s all about barbequeing with his wife Shilpa, a dermatologist, and coping with the chill! “She and I are both foodies. Since she is from the south, we usually do a lot of barbeques with seafood — crabs, lobsters, prawns, and meats of course,” he adds.
The BMW is his favourite car, but he feels that driving in different hardy terrain is where lessons are learnt. In rallying it is tantamount to hone a driver’s skill. “We drive through snow, rain and all kinds of terrain, and it makes one a very versatile driver,” he says.
To budding racers, he cautions, “Be safe, don’t be rash. The biggest learning is ‘seat time’ that helps one master the art of driving.” He feels that one can tell a lot about a driver by his driving style, which shows an individual’s personality. “Bad drivers,” he says, “lack patience and common sense.”
About 2015, he is hopeful and revved up. “The year 2014 was a great year for Indian rallying. And a great year for Team MRF. We started as underdogs with a Mahindra SUV 500 against the Volkswagon, and we won. I am also the first Indian to win in a diesel in Indian rallying. People underestimated our performance and that too in a Mahindra XUV, which is an off roader. A lot of R and D went into it, we made a lot changes, modifications, got special tyres from MRF, and worked with Red Rooster which is the best in the country and Leelakrishnan. We will drive hard, train harder and get all the specs together,” vows Gill.
The racer is now chalking out a plan for 2015 to get sponsorships in place for the season ahead. He hopes to do well in the Asia Cup and be a part of the APRC. “Me and my Team MRF with Mahindra will show our prowess. In India, we have shown how rallying is done at the top level. I am trying to get into the European Rally Championship too — a few rounds in Poland, Portugal, under the aegis of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Last year, I had won the New Zealand and New Caledonia round.
This year too there is New Caledonia and Australia, Japan, Malaysia, China and India as probables. MRF are the primary sponsors and they are the tyre people with experience, and Mahindra lends their expertise. This type of rallying is the closest that a layman can come to racing unlike Formula One which is out of reach for most amateurs. Obviously, our cars are modified but the beauty of it is that the dynamics are the same — we use cars that people drive all the time.”
