6 December 2009, Bukit Merah, Perak: Karamjit Singh is the Overall Champion of the Malaysian Rally Championship 2009 (MRC). Karamjit maintained his lead over rival, Saladin Mazlan and finished the fifth and final Round 1 minute 20.9 seconds ahead in a total time of 1hour 27 minutes 58.4 seconds.
With this win, Karam scored enough points to win a bevy of trophies including Overall Champion, Championship Driver and first in the 4WD and P12 categories. His co-driver, Jagdev Singh won the Championship Co-driver award.
“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.
Karamjit 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.
Karamjit is the lead driver for the GSR Pennzoil Racing Team which clinched the Team category trophy.
Team Manager, Gunaseelan Rajoo finished third today giving him third Overall, and second in the 4WD and P12 categories for the Season. Guna was elated at the team’s performance. He said the team will enter 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.”
Saladin Mazlan of the Felda Rally Team finished the Season second overall and third in the 4WD and P12 categories. Saladin and co-driver Arish had planned on winning this round but mechanical problems slowed them down. “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.”
Newcomer, Faidzal Alang finished a spectacular first year of rallying taking home the P10 and Junior category trophies for the Season. He also tied for first place with Hong Kong driver Clayton Check in the 2WD category. Mike Ariokiasamy Ratnam was the runner up.
Check took the P11 category for the Season, Jamaluddin Tukumin the P9 category and 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 www.malaysianrally.com
Top 5 Times:
Karamjit Singh/Jagdev Singh 1:27:58.4
Saladin Mazlan/Arish Qutb Ahamad Khan 1:29:19.3
Gunaseelan Rajoo/Mohd Izwan Abdullah 1:38:35.3
Mohd Shazly Ilias/Mohd Shazmie Ilias 1:51:48.3
Jamaluddin Tukimin/Rozita Tukimin 1:57:37.9
