Obihiro (Japan), Sep 27 (IANS): Gaurav Gill’s title hopes suffered a massive setback as he went off the road on Special Stage-8 when leading his MRF teammate Jan Kopecky by 22 seconds in the Rally Hokkaido, the fifth round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, here Saturday.

At the end of a long day, Kopecky led the field by 25.4 seconds over veteran Toshi Arai (Noriko Takeshita) who drove a Subaru Impreza WRX STi. The rally continues Sunday when seven more Special Stages will be run.

Driving a Skoda Fabia S2000, Gill along with co-driver Glenn Macneall, set a scorching pace after a slow start that saw Kopecky (Pavel Dresler) open a slender lead of 1.1 seconds after three Special Stages.

Thereafter, it was defending champion Gill all the way until the off-road incident on SS-8 that forced him to retire leaving Kopecky well in the clear.

Both Kopecky, the European champion, and Gill are locked in a tight tussle for the championship with just eight points separating the two. Kopecky has 112 points to Gill’s 104.