Stohl wins APRC China Rally Zhangye

Non-championship competitor, Manfred Stohl, comfortably won the APRC China Rally Zhangye at the wheel of a locally entered Citroen DS3 R5, while championship leader, second placed Gaurav Gill (Team MRF Skoda Fabia R5), took the points for winning.   

Based at the faraway city of Zhangye, close to the border with Mongolia, the event used stages on the edge of the Gobi desert, a location recently inspected by the FIA, but rejected, for the newly revived China world championship rally.  

Gill’s teammate, Fabian Kreim, missed stages when the turbocharged failed. Australian Champions Eli Evans and Glen Weston were fourth in a Citroen DS3 R3T.

A notable entry was APRC class leader, Mike Young, who drove a BYD Dream Team Qin hybrid car in place of his usual Subaru.  

Australians Chris Atkinson and Dale Moscatt won the supporting national championship event, which attracted over 100 entries, in his special VW Golf.  

It has now been three years since Skoda did not win an APRC championship rally.  

The world championship China Rally Huairou will be run close to Beijing next month.

CHINA RALLY ZHANGYE

1. Manfred Stohl/Bernhard Ettel (A) Citroën DS3 R5, 2:12.22,3
2. Gaurav Gill/Glenn Macneall (IND/AUS) Skoda Fabia R5, +5.04,0
3. Wang Hua/Pang Jiadong (CHN) Citroën DS3 R5, +13.00,3
4. Eli Evans/Glen Weston (AUS) Citroën DS3 R3T, +17.26,2
5. Hitoshi Takayama/Tomoyuki Nakagawa (J) Subaru Impreza WRX STI, +23.57,9
6. Mike Young/Zhang Longxi (NZ/CHN) BYD Qin, +44.42,1

More APRC news and photos from the event will appear in this Thursday's issue of RallySport Magazine.
 
- Martin Holmes

Author