Malaysian Rally (MR) manages to catch up with the current leader of the Malaysian Championship and 3-time APRC champion Karamjit Singh for a chat before the much anticipated Malaysian Rally 2007.

MR: How are your preparations for Round 3 of the Malaysian Rally coming along?

We have bought a used Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 rally car from New Zealand. The car has arrived in Port Klang on 19 July but I am still struggling to get it cleared from Malaysian customs. I have learned the hard way that there is just too much red tape involved and the procedures have caused a delay, which is hampering my preparations for the rally.

MR: So you will be in an Evo 8 for this round of the championship. Tell us a bit about how you managed to secure your sponsorship to purchase this car.

The car is two years old and has done the 2005 APRC as well as the 2006 New Zealand Rally Championship. It was built and prepared by Neil Allport Motorsport in New Zealand and has been re-built for this year.

After Round 1 in Bahau, a friend, Andrew Suresh wrote an article about our win and it was published in the CBT section of the New Sunday Times the weekend following the rally. Our sponsor, the Managing Director of Aldwich Berhad read the article and contacted a mutual friend to arrange a meeting with me to discuss sponsorship opportunities and a partnership. After the meeting Aldwich agreed to sponsor our team for Round 2. They were pleased with our result in Terengganu, agreed to buy us the Evolution 8 with spares and have confirmed sponsorship for the rest of MRC 2007. We hope to forge a long term business partnership that will go beyond rallying.

MR: Do you think you will have time to set up the new car and will it suit the stages in Johor?

I don’t think that we will have enough time to test and set up the car as well as I would like to but I am quite sure that it will suit the fast and flowing Felda stages in Johor. The Mitsubishi is a very well balanced car and has tremendous torque so barring any mechanical gremlins; the car should be on the pace in terms of outright speed.

MR: After not competing in the Malaysian Rally Championship for such a long time, you are this year, back with a new team, new sponsors and a runaway lead. Has it been quite a good year for you so far then?

It certainly has, but it was not all-smooth sailing. I had to sell my apartment to pay off a FIA fine for not completing the 2005 PWRC as well as pay off a shipping and storage debt from my botched APRC entry in 2005. I used the balance last year to buy my old Evo 3 and prepare it for two rounds of the 2006 MRC. I competed with my wage earned from the China Rally Championship and with some financial help from friends in the corporate sector. Thankfully my persistence has paid off this year.

MR: Can you tell us a little about your co-driver? How is this partnership working out after you being with Allen Oh for so long?

Jagdev first co-drove for me on the APRC China Rally back in 1997, substituting for Allen Oh, who was down with chicken pox, so our partnership is actually quite old. Jagdev and I also competed together in the Indian Rally Championship 1999 and the Asian Zone Championship 2001. Last year, we competed in a Mitsubishi Evolution 9 in the Chinese championship.

Allen Oh and I competed at the pinnacle of rallying, in the WRC. I look forward to competing again at the top level in the WRC in the near future, with Jagdev alongside me.

MR: Including you, there will be 4 APRC champions in mr7 (Taguchi '99, Valimaki '05 and Crocker '06) and '05 PWRC Champion Tosihiro Arai. You are the only one who has won the APRC 3 times though. What do you think about your competition for the rally?

I have competed against Katsu, Toshi and Cody several times but never against Jussi Valimaki. They are all super fast and skilled rally drivers and I look forward to competing against them. It is going to be very tough but I strive on fierce competition and will drive flat out if I can.

MR: How confident do you feel going into mr7? Do you think we will have a chance of seeing a home champion after 5 years?

The key issue for me will be reliability. I now have a decent budget, but it is still nowhere near as much as the works teams budgets and resources. They have better cars and all the spares they need to drive 100 percent from the onset. I will try very hard to win this one and if the car is reliable, I should be able to put in a solid performance. To win, I will have to drive absolutely flat out from the start and if nothing breaks then I think we will have a chance. Let’s remember that my car is still one model older than what the competition has.

MR: How do you think the rest of the Malaysian Rally season will unveil? Do you foresee any major challengers for the title?

If we have reliability, I am confident that we can wrap up a good year as national champions. By entering in MR7 and attempting to battle with the APRC competitors, I am actually compromising my MRC result. In an attempt to win the MR7 outright, we may dnf and not get any result. On the other hand I could have chosen only to enter MRC Rd. 3 and drive a calculated rally to score points towards the championship. So to some extent, I am actually taking a big risk. For round 4 & 5, I would really like to see the return of the Japanese and Indonesian competitors. I am particularly looking forward to returning to the superb Felda roads in Kuantan.

MR: What would you like to tell to any young driver out there trying to make it in Rallying?

Honestly, I would say don’t waste your time! …. unless your father is a multi-millionaire. Motorsports costs a lot of money and without corporate Malaysia or the government firmly behind the sport, no driver no matter how talented will be able to sustain competing in today’s ultra competitive environment.

MR: Anything you want to tell your fans?

Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for all the support through the good and bad times. The average person on the street are my biggest fans and they inspire me when they come up to me and wish me luck with sponsorship or on an event. Even now, I still read letters and sms messages from fans in local newspapers in support of me. I will not fail my fans and promise to deliver a decent result.

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