MRC 08 - Team Pennzoil scores 1-2 in Perlis
The second round of the Malaysian Rally Championship was a really interesting event, it had drama, foreign invasion and even royalty.
Team Pennzoil was the biggest winner in Perlis, their new driver, malaysian Rally Champion, Karamjit Singh sailed past the field dragging along his teammate Gunaseelan Rajoo.
Chasing them was team Perodua M5 and their 4WD turbocharged Myvi and Viva. It started well forPerodua M5, their Viva, driven by Lim Leong Onn actually clocked one second ahead of Karamjit on SS1, then it developed a turbo boost problem on SS2 and this saw them slip back by two minutes.
Karamjit had his won set of problems, he went to Perlis without a full set of spares so he knew that if anything broke and they did not have the replacement part, his race woudl be over. The Malaysian champ had to keep it cool and drive carefully.
This careful driving allowed Lim and his Viva to claw back the deficit and by the end of SS4, they had slashed Karamjit’s advantage to just 30 seconds. Things were looking up for the Perodua M5 team. The Viva had beaten Karamjit in the first round in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan when the Flying Sikh was driving a rented Proton Satria but this time they had a real chance of beating Karamjit in his all-powerful Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII.
They went into the second service park in anticipation. Lim left the team pit to refuel and to his surprise, the Viva refused to start. They pushed it back to the pit and let the mechanics work on it, they managed to fidn the fault but by that time Lim was already time barred.
The Viva’s electrical problem was the second blow for the Perodua M5 team , the first one was a failed fuel pump which had taken Kan Chai Hong out of contention.
By the end of the second day the top three was Karamjit, Gunaseelan and seasoned privateer Sutan Mustafa Salihin and they held on to their podium positions to the end.
Second day was less dramatic, everyone kept their pace and completed the race trouble-free.