Aussies Gill and Brkic take maiden JWRC podium

Aussie young guns Taylor Gill and Dan Brkic have soared to their maiden Junior World Rally Championship podium in just their second attempt in Croatia.

In just Gill’s third tarmac rally and second sharing the WRC spotlight, the Newcastle product finished second best behind the more experienced Estonian Romet Jurgensson.

It arrives after showing promise in the season opener in the Swedish snow before a series of punctures restricted Gill to eighth.

But after a maiden trophy, the Aussie has soared up to third in the standings, only behind winners Jurgenson and Mille Johanson.

Gill’s second place was the first time an Australian had been on a World Rally

Championship podium since Brendan Reeves finished third in the junior category at the

2012 Acropolis Rally in Greece.

The 20-year-old was delighted with the breakthrough result.

“Rallying on tarmac is quite a foreign experience for an Aussie from Newcastle,” Gill said.

“But Dan and I put in a huge amount of work in the lead up to the Croatia Rally, so to come home with a podium finish is a great reward.

“We still have three rallies left in the Junior World Rally Championship, so we’ll continue to work hard and try and build up as many points in the upcoming events.”

Seeded as car #7 Gill started on the back foot with a spin, which meant he could only manage the ninth fastest time, losing 53s.

Then on Stage 3 he lost more time with a puncture but by the following stage he was back on song and set the third fastest time in the 16.63km Platak 1 and end the morning loop in fifth.

“It was a tricky morning for us on Friday,” the 20-year-old explained. 

“A small mistake on SS1 was frustrating, and then the puncture on the third test meant we were up against it.

“The stages were incredibly tough; at points throughout the morning it was like driving on ice, so it was really testing me.”

But Gill found his groove in the afternoon as back to back stage wins helped him to emerge third overall by the end of the day.

“Friday arvo it seemed to all click,” he said. 

“We took two stage wins and moved up onto the podium so we were happy with how we were going.”

Gill carried on his momentum into the weekend by finishing second in Saturday’s opening two stages, which vaulted him ahead of Norbert Maior and into second overall.

A tight victory over Jurgenson on Stage 14 tightened his grip on the position by more than a minute at the conclusion of the second day despite losing some time in Saturday’s finale.

“For Saturday, we continued our push and moved up to second,” Gill recalled.

“We lost a little bit of time on the last stage due to having to run two wet tyres (even though the conditions remained dry), but we were able to hold position.”

After starting Sunday with plenty of speed, finishing the opening stage third, just 3.1s off the pace, Gill took a conservative approach until the finish.

A pair of ninths and a 10th place in the final three stages proved to be enough to secure second.

Gill was 2m35.1s away from winner Jurgenson, but was a 1m20s ahead of Maior.

“For Sunday, it was all about holding position,” he said. 

“We had a good buffer to third, but with only four stages left, the gap to first was too large to recover, so we focussed on being consistent and keeping our placing.

“To be on the podium for the first time is really pleasing. 

“Apart from the opening loop, we had a really clean run.”

Boosted by some silverware, Gill and Brkic will turn their attention to Rally Italia Sardegna on May 30-June 2.

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