Defending champion Gaurav Gill of the factory-backed Skoda MRF team took his fourth win at the fourth event in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). Despite the challenging conditions on the " Malaysian Rally " route, European champion Jan Kopecký defended his lead in the standings of this year's championship with his victory in the all-day evaluation on Sunday. Skoda continues to hold the lead in the brand ranking as well and is on the best path to successfully defending the title.
“Malaysia is always the toughest rally of the year. Due to the tropical temperatures and rainfall, the conditions here are truly extreme. But we already have one victory in our pocket and we are satisfied with the lead in the first two positions of the championship," comments Pavel Hortek , head of the Skoda MRF team. The winner Gaurav Gill was particularly satisfied after his sovereign triumph in the successful Skoda Fabia S2000 .
After 14 rated special stages, he and his co-driver Glenn Macneall already have a clear lead over the Australian Mark Pedder . Jun Xu finished in third place in his own Skoda Fabia S2000 . "In the past year, victory eluded us, we are all the more happy about this success. It was especially important because of the title fight. It will be a tough fight with Jan and the championship will be exciting until the last second," comments Gaurav Gill .
Gill achieved his second success of the year at the start of the APRC Asian Tour. He triumphed for the first time this season at the start in New Zealand . The other two APRC events in New Caledonia and Australia were won by Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler for the Skoda brand. The pair had bad luck this time on the first day on the muddy roads leading through the banana and coconut plantations at the southern end of Malaysia. In the beginning, during one long jump after landing, the rear axle suspension was damaged. However, the leader of the table returned to the rally on Sunday and won five of the six graded tests to secure the points that helped him take the lead on the second day.
Skoda cars continue to lead the overall ranking in the first two positions. Kopecký leads just ahead of Gill after four out of six events. "On Saturday we were in first place, but then we damaged the car. Of course that was annoying. But with the top spot in Sunday's all-day rankings, we've hit the max. Thank you to the entire Skoda MRF team," said Jan Kopecký . For the conditions in Malaysia, in which one really sweats, he specially prepared himself, for example, in the sauna.
Source: Skoda Motorsport
