India's Gill kings Rally Queensland

Gaurav Gill has won the international Rally of Queensland with a consistent driving display, leaving behind a trail of beleaguered competitors in the forests of the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Gill and his Kiwi co-driver McNeall of the Indian-based MRF Mitsubishi team have won Round 4 of the Australian Rally Championship, part of the 2010 International Rally of Queensland. Despite having won only one of the event’s 18 special stages, on Friday night, the duo were rarely out of the top three during a test of 268 kilometres for Round four of the 2010 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

Victorian brothers Glen and Matt Raymond, running a Mitsubishi Lancer on a wildcard scored second place, one of the best results of their career, ahead of the other MRF crew of Katsuhiko Taguchi (Japan) and Chris Murphy (Australia). 

Having finished in the number one spot in the 4th round of the Queensland Rally, Gill and McNeall now find themselves at the 2nd spot in the Championship’s overall standings. With just three points keeping Gill and his partner from taking the top position in the Championship standings, their performance in the races at China and Indonesia will now determine whether they would get to hold the Championship trophy high or leave the circuit empty handed. 

Speaking on the occasion of his jubilant 4th stage win Gill joked at the podium presentation saying that he had dented his car. “It’s been a great weekend although not very clean. We’ve got some dents in the panels and I don’t even know how I got them; there’s some invisible trees I think out there,” he said.