Australia APRC: Gill tops Friday shakedown

The annual Australian Rally has been moved from its traditional home in Queensland to the capital city of Canberra, meaning that none of the competing drivers have any prior experience of the layout.

With the field equalised, Team MRF’s Gill topped the shakedown with a time of 1m28.2s to take an early lead in the standings.

He was closely followed by teammate Christian Veiby, who completed the shakedown in 1m29.7s in the Indian tyre manufacturer’s second Skoda Fabia R5.

Once again, the Mpart-run Mitsubishi Mirage AP4s turned out to be MRF’s closest competitors, with former WRC driver Jari Ketomaa finishing third with a time of 1m31.2s.

Mpart’s Robert Blomberg was five seconds adrift in fourth, while India’s Abhilash PG was fifth quickest in a customer Subaru Impreza WRX Sti.

Apart from the aforementioned five competitors who will be contesting the entire season, 11 other drivers made a one-off appearance in the APRC rally.

The second round of APRC continues on Saturday, with the first eight stages taking place in Canberra. Drivers will cover a total distance of 102 km, 54 km of which will be timed.

Shakedown results: