BUKIT MERAH: IF it is not a recognised Malaysian record, it should be. Karamjit Singh won the final round of the 2009 Malaysian Rally Championship in the resort town of Bukit Merah and gained enough points to clinch his 11th national championship. The one-minute and 20.9-second time advantage gave the GSR Pennzoil rally team driver 2.5 points lead over his nearest challenger, Saladin Mazlan from the Felda Rally Team. Karamjit’s day may well could have turned out to be very different if the steering failure which occured on the final stage on Sunday had crippled his car. “You should see the condition of my steering system, we are glad to make it out,” he said at the end of the stage.
BUKIT MERAH: IF it is not a recognised Malaysian record, it should be. Karamjit Singh won the final round of the 2009 Malaysian Rally Championship in the resort town of Bukit Merah and gained enough points to clinch his 11th national championship.
The one-minute and 20.9-second time advantage gave the GSR Pennzoil rally team driver 2.5 points lead over his nearest challenger, Saladin Mazlan from the Felda Rally Team.
Karamjit’s day may well could have turned out to be very different if the steering failure which occured on the final stage on Sunday had crippled his car. “You should see the condition of my steering system, we are glad to make it out,” he said at the end of the stage.
“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 said.
He said he would continue to rally next year. “This is my eleventh championship win and I hope to win another five or six times before I retire,” he said.
Apart from the overall championship, Karamjit also ended first in the 4WD and P12 categories. His co-driver, Jagdev Singh won the Championship Co-driver award.
Meanwhile Saladin had to concede defeat after fighting hard the whole day.
“We tried our best, but in the end we simply could not make up for the 30-second time from brake failure in the first day. We pushed hard but faults kept cropping up with the car to slow us down but 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.”
His co-driver, Arish Qutb Ahmad Khan said the year was impressive for the team because despite being a new team, driving a new car, and having failed to finish two rallies, they still managed to end as the championship runner-up. Felda Rally Team manager, Mohd Zekry Ibrahim, who also competed in the P11 category said they were satisfied with their first year effort and they would take part again next year. “We are planning to participate in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship and also the Malaysian Rally Championship,” he added.
GSR Pennzoil team manager, Gunaseelan Rajoo, finished third today giving him third overall and second in the 4WD and P12 categories for the Season. Karamjit’s win gave GSR Pennzoil the overall team championship
Gunaseelan was elated at the team’s performance. He said the team would use a new car and driver in next year’s MRC. “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.”
Newcomer, Faidzal Alang, finished a spectacular first year of rallying by taking home the P10, Junior and 2WD category.
Hong Kong driver Clayton Check took the P11 category for the Season, Jamaluddin Tukumin won the P9 category while Indian driver, Arjun Rao was the N4 category winner.
Full results for the fifth Round of the MRC and the final standings for the 2009 Season can be found at
2009 Overall championship standings
1. Karamjit Singh/Jagdev Singh 33.5pts
2. Saladin Mazlan /Arish Qutb Ahmas Khan 31.0
3. Gunaseelan Rajoo/Mohd Izwan Abdullah 30.0
4. Arjun Rao Aroor/Musa Sheriff 13.5
5. Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya/Sean F. Gregory 11.5
6. Faidzal Alang/Hazwan Fauzi 10.0
7. Jamaluddin Tukimin/Rozita Tukimin 9.5
8. Rozali Abdullah/Douglas Pickering 8.0
9. Mike Ariokiasamy Ratnam/Tracy Li 6.0
10. Clayton Check/Wayne Cheah 5.5
