Chikkamagaluru: The Coffee Day India Rally, country’s biggest motorsport event after Formula One Indian Grand Prix, gets rolling on Saturday with Gaurav Gill and co-driver Glenn Macneall of Team MRF Skoda headlining a 50-car combined grid.
The three-day event doubles up as the sixth and concluding round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, and Round Four of the MRF FMSCI Indian Rally Championship. In all, 10 crews are competing in the international section and 40 in the domestic championship.
The Rally gets down to business with a shakedown followed by Super Special Stage at the Amber Valley School grounds on Saturday before heading to the estates of Coffee Day Global, about 30 Kms away, for the Special Stages which will be run on Sunday and Monday.
Delhi-based Gill, who turned 35 today and has already sealed the 2016 APRC title, is on the verge of scoring a historic sixth consecutive win this season. If he succeeds, he will become the only driver ever to win all the rounds in this championship.
While Gill, driving the super-quick MRF Skoda Fabia R5 is expected to dominate, his team-mate Fabian Kreim (co-driver Christian Frank) will be involved in a tight battle for the second spot in the championship with Cusco Racing’s Michael Young (Malcolm Read) who will be piloting the Subaru Impreza WRX STi, the same as his two team-mates Sanjay Takale (Noriko Takeshita) and Japan’s Yuya Sumiyama (Takahiro Yasui).
