The Federation of Motorsport Clubs of India (FMSCI) announced its annual motorsport awards for India at a gala event held in Hyderabad on Friday, February 3, 2017.
FIA president Jean Todt was present at the ceremony and gave away the Motorsports person of the year award to five-time national rally champion Gaurav Gill. Gill, who won the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, had a fantastic year as he set a new record by winning all the five APRC rounds.
“It’s an honour to receive the trophy from Mr Todt, one of the legends in the world of racing. I will have to win it again and again so that it stays in my cabinet,” said Gill, who has won the rolling trophy twice already.
FMSCI president Akbar Ebrahim said, “This is a special day for motorsports as FMSCI was formed exactly on this day 44 years ago. I am proud to say that we had as many as 350 championships through the year, which makes us the third most active motor-sporting country in Asia.”
He promised that the sport and the country would achieve greater glory by bringing more world-class events and by ramping up infrastructure and quality of officiating to international standards. “We will tie up with all our partners so that racing not only becomes cheaper for our drivers and teams but also a much better experience,” he said. He pointed out that in order to empower women and help them race in various disciplines, including motocross, drag racing and rallying, they’d commissioned a new wing.
"You are a country of over a billion people. We have a great challenge ahead of us. But it provides us so many wonderful opportunities too,” said Todt. He added, “India has always been a very strong federation in FIA and I want to tell you that you now have a very strong ally in me in developing motorsport in the country.”
