After picking up a win in the opening round of the 2023 FIA Rally Star program, Taylor Gill has produced another impressive outing after a class podium and an outright top 10 in Rally Weiz over the weekend.
Very little separated Gill and his two closest competitors in Jose Abito Caparo of Peru and Finnish driver Romet Jürgenson throughout the entirety of the round, however it was Jürgenson who would eventually take the class victory over Caparo and Gill – just 16 separating the trio at the end of the event.
Caparot got off to the best start of three, and enjoyed a five-second advantage over Gill after the opening stage.
A lacklustre second stage saw Gill and co-driver Daniel Brkic drop 10 seconds off the leader before putting in the same time as Jurgenson in SS3 to stay within reaching distance of the lead at the first service break.
After picking up second and third in SS4 and SS5, it was the following day’s action where Gill really began to lift, taking victory in SS7 by just under a second ahead of the leader Jurgenson.
The remainder of the rally was a race for second place, with Jurgenson well over 10 seconds clear of Caparo in second in the later stages.
But while the rally was almost at a close, Gill left his biggest push to the last with back-to-back second place finishes ahead of Caparo, closing the gap to 10.3 seconds before another victory in the final stage had him within three and a half seconds by the end of the weekend.
The final stage results also ensured there were three RallyStar competitors inside the top 10 outright in Austria, providing a great opportunity for the young rally prodigy to take away a handful of lessons throughout.
“A very difficult weekend in which we learned a heap, but had fun all the same,” Gill wrote on social media.
“Thanks to Daniel Brkic for a great job all weekend, and congratulations to Romet Jürgenson for taking the win.”
The next round of the FIA RallyStar program will take place at Rally Nova Gorica, Slovenia 22-24 September.