WRC2 rising stars Taylor Gill and Daniel Brkic will have already driven more than 3,000 kilometres just to make the start of this week’s World Rally Championship round in Croatia.
To put it into context, that’s approximately the equivalent stage distance of 10 WRC rounds before a wheel has been turned in anger. It’s an admirable but totally necessary feat that conveys the grit and determination required for an aspiring crew to forge a career in the rallying’s top flight.
With funds tight to compete in three WRC2 rounds this year, in the hope of catching the eye of teams, last year’s Junior WRC runner-up finishers chose to tow their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car from their base in Finland to Croatia. It’s a journey that saves money on flights and the hiring of a driver to take the car to the event, with those savings being put towards items deemed much more important, such as pre-event testing.
“If we want to compete in the WRC and keep doing these events with the Rally2 car, these are the kind of measures we have to take,” said former FIA Rally Star driver Gill. “It is the cheapest way to do it and that is the main thing obviously.
“In a normal case you would pay someone to drive the car down and we would fly to the rally, but this is the most efficient way, driving the car down ourselves. Myself and Dan are quite invested in what we are doing, so it is just part of what has to happen.”
This is not an average road trip. The Australian duo started their epic journey last week, which has seen them travel through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Austria and Slovenia. The trip also featured a brief visit to M-Sport Poland, which supplied the Ford Fiesta Rally3 they drove in the JWRC last year.
They eventually stopped in Italy at the headquarters of the Delta Rally team, which will be running the pair’s GR Yaris Rally2 car this week. After conducting a test on Monday, they are now set to tackle the 20 asphalt stages that make up this year’s WRC round in Croatia.
“It has been quite the trip. It has been a lot of work to organise and it started pretty much straight away after Sweden. The plan was set before we left Finland and so far everything has been smooth and stress free,” Gill explained.
“It has been cool and we have stopped and seen different things along the way. We stopped at M-Sport Poland for a few hours which was really nice. It is a cool trip and a cool way to see the European countryside. We are Australians so we are used to long road trips.”
It will certainly be worth it if Gill and Brkic can deliver a strong result on roads that have proved a happy hunting ground in the past. In 2024, the pair finished the event second overall in what proved to be one of two podium finishes that year en route to fourth in the standings.
However, this year marks the duo’s first event on asphalt driving a Rally2 car in what is only their second event competing in the WRC’s second tier, after finishing an impressive fourth in class on debut on the snow at Rally Sweden in February.
“I feel more confident on tarmac than on snow as a surface in general. I have done three snow rallies and six tarmac, so it makes sense from that side as well,” said Gill. “The competition is going to be pretty red hot in Croatia and there are a lot of fast guys to try and put behind us, but we will do what we can and focus on our own rally.
Taylor Gill
Photo by: WRC
“We have a limited budget, but we are trying to do things as properly as possible. There is really no point in rocking up half baked [without a test] and knowing there is no chance from the start, so we want to give ourselves a chance at least.
“We have some good people around me helping me get prepared. I have done a few tarmac rallies now, but I think the main thing will be how rapid everything is coming at you. You have to keep the reflexes pretty sharp.”
Once next week’s rally is completed, Gill and Brkic will again be clocking up the kilometres as they swap their Finland base for Australia, on a mission to secure the funding to continue their season. The pair have their eyes set on securing the budget to compete in Rally Finland (30 July – 2 August).
“It is not easy [to find the budget] that is for sure. We had the budget for Sweden and have just been able to scrape enough together for Croatia, and I don’t want to call it cutting corners, but we have had to do things like drive the car ourselves to the rally,” Gill said.
“After this we will go back to Australia for a few months and I basically have to go head down bum up to finish the budget for Finland. It is going to be a pretty big task.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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