MRF has announced its entry into the FIA World Rally Championship 2 category, with Gaurav Gill confirmed to drive for the team. The entry into the 2018 season of the WRC 2 will mean that this winning team will end its participation in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
Team MRF have competed in the APRC for the past 16 seasons and won a total of nine championships. Gill, who won the APRC in 2013, 2016 and 2017, had previously expressed a desire to compete at a higher level. His WRC debut took place in 2008 at the PWRC rounds in Wales, followed by a stint in Portugal and Cyprus in 2009.
While the 2018 edition of the WRC 2 has already begun – with four out of the 13 scheduled rounds having been completed – it seems like MRF and Gill will use this opportunity to lay their groundwork for the 2019 season. It has not yet been confirmed if they will enter in round 5 at Argentina (April 26-29) or in round 6, held in Portugal from May 17-20, 2018.
There has still been no confirmation regarding which car the team will run in the rally series. For the APRC, MRF had a collaboration with Skoda to use the Fabia S2000 from the 2012 season onwards. This was later replaced with the Fabia R5 in 2016.
Unnatee Gidithuri
