Malaysian rally ace Karamjit Singh reasserted his status as the country’s top rally driver by winning the Overall Championship of the 2009 season Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC). Partnering Jagdev Singh, who also bagged the Championship Co-Driver award, the Flying Singh held off a stiff  challenge from Saladin Mazlan of Felda Rally Team to win the fifth and final round of the season, allowing him to bag the Overall Champion, Championship Driver, 4WD category, and P12 category titles.

Karamjit clocked a time of 1:27:58.4, finishing 1:20.9 ahead of Saladin. After the win, Karamjit paid tribute to Saladin for pushing him all the way, saying,“I am very happy to have won. Saladin gave us a good fight and kept us on our toes. We were going flat out to win. It is very enjoyable to be back to rallying at 100%.”

Karamjit’s team, GSR Pennzoil Racing Team, clinched the Team category trophy, as team manager Gunaseelan Rajoo finished third on the day and also in the Overall Championship. In his categories, Guna was second behind Karamjit in both 4WD and P12.

Speaking after the race, Guna indicated his delight in the Pennzoil team’s performane, and is looking forward to enter a new car and driver in next season’s championship. He said, “We have a new Mitsubishi Evo 10 and we are talking to some international drivers.  I am hoping to semi-retire and just compete in some rallies.”

Meanwhile, Karamjit has no plans to ease off either. His appetite for victory remains hungry as ever, as he noted, “This is my eleventh championship win and I hope to win another five or six times before I retire.”

Saladin, who went all-out for a win only to be dogged by mechanical problems, was understandably disappointed, but still sportingly acknowledged Karamjit’s victory. “I don’t like to give excuses for not winning,” said Saladin.  “Karam won fair and square.  But we will come out stronger next year.”

In the final standings, Saladin and his co-driver Arish Qutb finished second in the overall championship but third in the 4WD and P12 categories.

The P10 and Junior category trophies went to Faidzal Alang. Completing his first full season in rallying, Faidzal is tied for first place in the 2WD category with Hong Kong driver Clayton Check, winner of the P11 category.

Full results for the fifth Round of the MRC and the final standings for the 2009 Season can be found at www.malaysianrally.com

KON

Building on his advantage earned during the first leg, Saladin Mazlan of the Felda Rally Team held off the spirited challenge of Karamjit Singh to finish first in Round 4 of the Malaysian Rally Championship 2009 at Ladang KLIA, Sepang, clocking a time of 1:23:50.1. In doing so, Saladin simultaneously took home first-place trophies for the Overall race, and in the 4WD and P12 categories.

Saladin Mazlan powers to victory

National rally ace Karamjit, racing for GSR Pennzoil Racing Team, fought valiantly, but found Saladin’s 24.4 second lead too big a hurdle to overcome, managing to only slash it to 20.1 seconds.

“We were the fastest overall today, we won the Leg, but we couldn’t make up the time we lost yesterday.  We found a leak in our turbo pipe in the first Service today which had been slowing us down.  That fixed, we pushed as hard as we could but there weren’t enough kilometres in the Stages to reduce the time,” said Karamjit’s co-driver Jagdev Singh.

“Saladin drove a superb rally and did a beautiful job,” Jagdev added. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had competition like this. This is what rallying is all about!”

A delighted Saladin drove his Proton Gen.2 home to a jubilant team.  “We were pushing all the way but we were always in control.  I think we have another ten percent to give, so in the next rally, the battle will continue,” Saladin said. “To win like this gives us a good feeling.”

As Saladin and Karamjit pushed each other hard in a neck-and-neck finished, they had also left Gunaseelan Rajoo and Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya comfortably behind them in 3rd and 4th placing. Guna finished 10:57 behind Karamjit, followed by Rafiq a further 44 seconds behind.

Rafiq, who had finished third in the first day, slammed his Subaru Impreza into a tree at Special Stage (SS) 19, to clear the way for Guna to take the last remaining podium spot. Rafiq did, however, take home the N4 category trophy.

Fastest among the two-wheel drivers was Clayton Check from Hong Kong, who also won the P11 category, while Faidzal Alang topped the P10 and Junior categories. The P9 category was won by the brother-sister team of Jamaluddin and Rozita Tukimin.

With 20 stages to cover in two days, Round 4 of MRC 2009 put the competitors through 481.08 grueling kilometres. The final round of the MRC this season will take place in Perak on 5 & 6 December 2009.

Competitors were put through a grueling race

KON

Pictures from: www.malaysianrally.com

Day One of the Malaysian Rally Championship 2009 Round 4 at Sepang came to a conclusion yesterday, with Saladin Mazlan of Felda Rally Team leading defending champion Karamjit Singh by 24.4 seconds.

Saladin powering ahead of Karamjit.

Driving a Proton Gen.2, Saladin took full advantage of a failing turbocharger in Karamjit’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, as Karamjit’s partner, Jagdev Singh reflected, “We were fast enough in the short, twisty stages but we were no match for Saladin on the long stretches.”

Saladin is naturally pleased with the outcome, noting, “We are very happy with today’s result.  The car is running very well and if we have a good day tomorrow we can finish first Overall and in the P12 and 4WD categories.”

Directly behind Saladin and Karamjit is the Subaru Impreza of Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya in third place. When asked about his performance, Rafiq commented, “Today was only our second time racing this car, so we are still getting used its power. But we are very happy with our performance so far.”

Coming in fourth was Gunaseelan Rajoo of GSR Pennzoil Racing Team. Amidst heavy rain and slippery terrain, Guna made no mistakes and eased his way to the finish line, as many of his competitors were undone by the treacherous conditions.

The Felda Rally Team lost two of their four cars with Azmeer Yusri Yusoff hitting a tree, and Mohammad Zekri Ibrahim skidding off the track. Out of 25 cars starting the race, only 16 crossed the finish line for the day.

Leading the 2WD and P11 categories is the Hong Kong pair Clayton Check and Tracy Li, with Mike Ariokiasamy Ratnam partnering his 22-year-old daughter Maruthi. “Maruthi is vey new to Rally.  She got her first taste in the Rally Sprint a few weeks ago and now the MRC, but she is a fast learner and enjoying the challenge,” Mike said.

Meanwhile, in the Junior and P10 categories, Faidzal Alang maintains his lead over his competitors.

Held at Ladang KLIA, Sepang, the rally took its competitors through 12 stages yesterday stretching 286.65 km long. The race continues today for another 194.43 km.

KON

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

14^th August, Johor Bahru - 28 cars were flagged-off this evening by the Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Sultan Mahmud Iskandar Al-Haj at the official opening ceremony for the FIA ASIA PACIFIC RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (APRC) ANCOM Malaysian Rally 2009 (MR9).  6 entries were for the MR9 and 22 entries were for the third Round of the local Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC) which is held concurrently.

The rallies will be held in the oil-palm plantations of Kota Tinggi, Johor.  All competitors will aim to complete 16 Stages over 227.70klms across the weekend.  The longest Stage is 24.46klms and the shortest is 3.09klms.

Cody Crocker of the Motor Image Racing Team, who is the defending APRC Champion and currently placed first in the points tally, will lead the charge into the Stages early tomorrow morning (Saturday).  The Stages have been described as extremely tricky and some of the most difficult the APRC competitors have seen this year.

Cody Crocker in his Subaru.

Following Crocker will be Japanese driver, Katsu Taguchi of the MRF Tyres team and behind him, New Zealander, Emma Gilmour who is Crocker’s teammate. Taguchi and Gilmour are placed second and third respectively entering this Round.

At a press conference held earlier today Crocker said the Stages are very challenging but he and co-driver Ben Atkinson will be pushing as hard as possible to win.    

“The Stages are new to us this year and there are some very technically demanding roads. We have spent a fair bit of time checking our notes just to make sure that they are all ok, but if it rains it will be a bit of a lottery as to who wins.  If we do win it will be very rewarding,” Crocker added.

Taguchi reiterated Crocker’s comments adding that the course is much more difficult than previous years because the roads are both narrow and tricky.

“We have no choice but to drive fast this weekend because we need to win to have any chance of beating Cody in the Championship,” Taguchi said. “Our tyre choice will be very important if it rains,” he added.

Emma Gilmour, who is competing in Malaysia for the first time said, “Nobody can afford to make any mistakes.  I’m glad we experienced some slippery stages during the recce because now we have a good idea of just how slippery it can be out there.” 

Gilmour’s co-driver in the MR9 is Claire Mole who hails from the UK.  Claire replaces Rhianon Smyth who was badly injured in a recent rally accident.  When asked to comment on the renewed partnership Gilmour said, “This is our first event back together for a while and it takes a little while to gel, but it’s come together really well and we’re looking forward to this weekend’s race.”

The other APRC competitors include Gaurav Gill from India, Rifat Sungkar from Indonesia and Malaysia’s own Karamjit Singh.

Karamjit will compete in the Proton Satria Neo S2000 as part of the Proton R3 Malaysia team.  Karamjit is excited to back in the APRC after a five year break but does not have high expectations for this weekend’s race.

“We haven’t had much time with the car, only about 25 kilometres, so it’s going to be a learning curve for us. The fact that the car is left-hand drive is another handicap for me,” Karamjit said.

The Proton Satria Neo S2000 finished 4th overall at the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in Russia recently, driven by two-time British rally champion Guy Wilks.  The Proton R3 Malaysia team is hoping to improve on the car’s performance and technology but putting it through the extreme conditions that come with motorsports.

The MR9 is the fifth of seven APRC Rounds. The last two Rounds will be held in Indonesia (3-4 Oct) and China (14-15 Nov).

Competitors of the APRC.

HEATED BATTLE IN LOCAL CHAMPIONSHIP (MRC)

With Karamjit and Jagdev driving up front in the APRC, it is expected there will be a fierce battle for second place between the MRC competitors in the 4WD category.  

Karamjit will race in APRC & MRC.

There are eight drivers in contention including Gunaseelan Rajoo and Lohitt Urs (India) of the GSR Pennzoil Racing Team, Saladin Mazlan and Rozali Abdullah of the Felda Rally Team, Arjun Rao (India) and Muhammad Rafiq.

In the 2WD category, ‘Mike’ Ariokiasamy Ratnam and Jamaluddin Tukimin, are expected to finish strongly.   

The official prize giving ceremonies will be held at the ZON Hotel, Johor Bahru on Sunday 16 August at 3pm. 

All details are available at www.malaysianrally.com.  APRC Points and driver profiles for the APRC can be found at www.fiaaprc.com

A chance to catch the A1GP in Sepang, during the lull you can watch rallly cars tear around the palm oil estates nearby

It has been a while since the oil palms of Sepang is shaken by the rumble of speeding rally cars and it has been some time since Klang Valley rally fans have had a round they can call home.

All is forgiven, this year Wheel Sport Management Sdn Bhd, organiser of the Malaysian Rally Championship decided it is time to come back to Sepang and they chose the same weekend as the A1GP. I think that is a smart move as both events can support each other in terms of drawing spectator interest.

I will be getting down and dirty on the Rally SS and I think you guys should too because WSM has chosen routes that run a long many of the main roads in the area so spectators will get to see a large part of the competitive driving.

It will be a a great round because the SS are short, averaging only 5km. This. together with the long straights and tricky corners will ensure a fast pace of rally with the potential for a lot of spills.

The championship maybe in Karamjit’s hand but there is still a lot of excitement in the class fights and  team Pennzoil’s nemesis, Perodua M5 is still chasing after class honours so expect to see their little cars zipping around in full force this weekend.

It is quite startling to see the abuse drivers put these small cars through and Perodua is a popular car for entry level rallying in Malaysia.

Veteran navigaotr, Bernard Chin says that the Sepang SS are all new so no one has driven on them before, this makes for an interesting weekend as everyone tries to quickly learn the intircacies of the route adn spot all the hazards during the recce today.

Chin’s driver is Kan Chee Hong and together they will pilot a Perodua Myvi 4WD Turbo.

Chin reckons the Perodua team has a good chance of raking in class points and wins this weekend as long as they don’t push too hard.

“From our intel, we know that the SS are rough adn quite fast so if we push too hard, it wil probably cause a breakdown so we ahve to keep our head and focus on the class honours then it will be OK. If we start going gung ho for overall win, then things may go wrong,” he added.

Well, I’m of to the recce, hope to see you guys over the weekend