Maroochydore (Australia): On a high after a dominant performance in the opening round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in New Zealand last month, MRF will be eyeing a Tasman Touchdown when the second leg, the Rally of Queensland, kicks off here on Saturday.
After an extended dry spell, the skies had opened up over Queensland in the last couple of weeks, resulting in 40 cm of rainfall. This has rendered the already unpredictable course treacherous. MRF wunderkind Fabian Kreim of Germany summed up the situation perfectly when he said, “The objective is not to get the best time, but survive.”
Gill agreed. “It’s normally a very fast course, but there are stages where the average speed is very low,” Gill said, adding: “The roads were very slippery during the recce. It is fine where the roads are hard-packed but the problem starts once we enter the woodland.”
Over 40 teams will line up for the Rally of Queensland, but it was a near unanimous verdict that Team MRF have the best car and thus, the advantage.
“This car is faster, more powerful than the previous car I drove,” Gill said.
“It’s a bit stiff in the chassis as it was primarily designed for European conditions but it’s still a lot of fun to drive. I’m sure we’ll fine-tune the car to suit each of us towards the end of the season,” he added.
The rally will see drivers vie with MRF for top honours across 16 stages and 240 kilometres of undulating, heavily-wooded terrain inland of the Sunshine Coast.
Gaurav Gill (co-driver Glenn Macneall) currently sits atop the championship table with 38 points while the impressive Fabien Kreim (co-driver Frank Christian), who made his debut only last month and who has been rallying only for three years, is second with 31 points.
Given the trepidation of the other teams with regards to MRF’s technical superiority, and the youthful energy of the 23-year-old Kreim and Gill’s zen-like confidence, the safe money is on MRF to dominate the Rally of Queensland.
That said, the weather — the sky is almost continuously overcast here — and the slick roads are the wild cards in the equation.
