Gaurav Gill and Pontus Tidemand to face-off at FIA APRC China Rally

Tidemand(R) will drive the upgraded Skoda Fabia R5, while Gill will be behind the wheel of a Fabia S2000

Longyou, Zhejiang, October 29: After being plagued by mechanical problems and dollops of bad luck for better part of the season, India’s Gaurav Gill will be looking to salvage some pride as he resumes his battle with his MRF Skoda team-mate, Pontus Tidemand, in the Rally China, the sixth round of the FIA APRC Championship.

But it’s going to be an uphill task for the 2013 APRC Champion. Tidemand fresh from his victory in the WRC 2 class in Rally RACC Catalunya, Spain, behind the wheels of Skoda Fabia R5, has already sealed this year’s APRC title after Gill scored a DNF in the previous round in Japan due to mechanical failure on the first day itself. Going into the sixth round of the championship, Tidemand leads Gill by 82 points. Team MRF, which is looking for another 1-2 finish in China, has already sealed the championship.

In China, Gill will have to deal with the added challenge of this team-mate driving the vastly superior Skoda Fabia R5, while the Indian will be doing duty behind the wheels of Skoda Fabia S2000. Though, the R5 variant of the Fabia is currently used in WRC2 class and European Rally Championship, both MRF and Skoda will be testing the upgraded version of the car for the first time in APRC with the idea of introducing this car for next year’s championship.

“The 2015 season has been very tough for me from the reliability point of view. In all the rallies I have managed to match Pontus’ pace as long as the car lasted. But it’s going to be really tough in China because of the difference in the equipment that we will be using,” said Gill before heading for the shakedown.

Gill, who won the second round in New Caledonia, returned empty handed from the fifth round in Japan after drive shaft failure on the liaison to the first stage. Earlier, in Australia he had to deal with engine failure, while in Malaysia rear differential problems caused him to lose a lot of pace on the second day of the rally.

For Tidemand, it has been a great debut year in APRC. “It feels great to come to this part of the world for the first time and win the championship. It’s a shame that in some of the rallies, Gill had todeal with car issues. Otherwise, it has been a good fight. Hope we can carry on with the good performance i China as well,” said Tidemand.

The Rally China will be fought over 13 special stages covering a total distance of 229 km. Out of the 13 stages, 12 were used in last year’s rally.

Divers’ Championship points after five rounds: