APRC RALLY HOKKAIDO PREVIEW

The Rally of Hokkaido is one of the longest running events in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship and since it first started in 2002 the scene of many great battles, where often the championship has been decided. Its looks to be no different in 2017 where Team MRF drivers Ole Christian Veiby and Gaurav Gill will continue their fight for the FIA driver’s championship and the APRC Rally Cup powered by Würth. With two wins to his team-mate’s one, Norway’s Veiby starts the rally with a 10-point lead in the championship, and comes to Japan as a Rally Hokkaido novice, which may give the advantage to his Indian team-mate.

For this event Gill’s Skoda will sport a fresh engine. “We’ve seen in the past that if you’re fast here first time out, you’re really good, so we expect ‘OC’ to be on the pace. “team boss Lane Heenan said. “But having said that, Gaurav’s comeback to finish second in Malaysia was something special, and with his experience in Japan he’ll be going all out for the win to try and reduce the championship gap. “As always, there’ll be no team orders and our drivers will be going flat out trying to beat each other.”

Lindsay Liu

Marketing & System Dept.