PRESS RELEASE

KARAMJIT TAKES DAY ONE

5 December 2009, Bukit Merah, Perak: Karamjit Singh was the fastest in Leg One of the final round of the Malaysian Rally Championship 2009 here today. Karamjit leads his rival, Saladin Mazlan, by 30.3 seconds.

Karamjit had to win one of the two Legs of this rally and must finish first or second tomorrow to have enough points to remain as the Overall Champion for the 2009 Season.

“I am happy I won today. I will see how the car shapes up in the first three SS tomorrow and then decide whether I will push to try to finish first. The third SS is very rough and is doing a lot of damage to our car, so it depends on how the car holds out,” Karamjit said.

Saladin pushed his Proton Gen2 hard all day to try to beat Karamjit to snatch the title and claim victory for the Felda Rally Team. His brakes kept overheating, forcing him to drive cautiously in many of the Special Stages (SS) and lose time.

“I am disappointed we didn’t win today,” said Saladin. “I would have liked to be closer (in time).”

Karamjit is the lead driver for the GSR Pennzoil Racing Team. His teammate and Manager, Gunaseelan Rajoo finished third today. “We have won the Team trophy and it looks like Karam will be Overall Champion for 2009, so I am happy.” said Guna. “But I am only 5 seconds in front of Rozali Abdullah so we’ll be going flat out tomorrow to make sure we finish third overall.”

Rozali, has his sights on third place too. “Today we are 5 seconds behind so tomorrow we want to be 5 seconds in front of Guna!” he said.

Faidzal Alang and Hong Kong driver Clayton Check are also in a battle for the 2WD category trophy for the 2009 Season. Faidzal finished the day 25 seconds in front of Check. Faidzal went into this race with the P10 and Junior categories in the bag, but taking home the 2WD trophy would be a sweet end to an amazing season for the newcomer.

27 cars were flagged off this morning. 16 finished Leg One. The competitors must complete 12 Stages in the fastest time over two days to score points towards the Championship. The stages are Ladang Segar (20.02km), Foong Lee (4.86km) and Halifax (3.25km).