Gaurav Gill crowned 'motorsports person of the year'

Gaurav Gill, the reigning Asia Pacific Champion had a spectacular 2016, winning all five rounds of the APRC, received the trophy from Jean Todt, the president of FIA (Le Federation Internationale de l’Automobile).

Gaurav Gill receives the award from Jean Todt, the president of FIA.

Five-time National Rally Champion Gaurav Gill was decorated with the prestigious 'motorsports person of the year' award in Hyderabad on Friday.

Gill, the reigning Asia Pacific Champion had a spectacular 2016, winning all five rounds of the APRC, received the trophy from Jean Todt, the president of FIA (Le Federation Internationale de l’Automobile).

"It's an honour to receive the trophy from Mr. Todt, one of the legends in the world of racing," Gill, who has already won the trophy twice earlier, said in his acceptance speech. "I will have to win it again and again so that it stays in my cabinet," he quipped.

"You (India) 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, "India has always been a very strong federation in the FIA and I want to tell you that you now have a very strong ally in me to develop motor sport in the country."

Award winners:

Lifetime achievement award: B. Vijaykumar; Motorsports person of the year: Gaurav Gill; Celebrating 50 years of competition in motorsports: D. Vidyaprakash

Outstanding women in motorsport award: Karting: Mira Erda; Single-seater racing: Sneha Sharma; Two-wheeler racing: Aishwarya Pissay and Shruthi Nagarajan; Rallying: Bani Yadav.