The Perodua M5 Racing Team survived a dramatic start to Round 1 of the Felda-AAM Malaysian Rally Championship, braving all odds to finish the rally with the Team award Trophy. The rubber and palm oil plantations in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan was the venue for the inaugural rally of the season and the brand new stages rewarded the fans with some exciting rally action.

The team fielded a 2 car entry, with the pairings of Lim Leong Onn - Kamarul Anuar in the Perodua Kelisa 4WD Turbo and P.Nandakumar - Suresh Sharma in the Perodua Kelisa 1.3.

The first stage saw Lim Leong Onn struggle with electrical gremlins resulting in an engine cutoff and a significant time loss. Nandakumar too fared no better when brake problems caused him to go off the road, getting his car beached and losing over 13 minutes. The crew worked hard in the 1st service and with most of the problems sorted by SS3, both drivers mounted a brave charge to regain the time that was lost.

Lim Leong Onn and Nandakumar clocked a string of incredibly quick stage times in the following stages with Nandakumar going as far as posting a 2nd fastest overall time behind the eventual winner of the rally, Karamjit Singh. A remarkable feat considering Nanda was piloting a 1300cc 2 wheel drive car.

Lim Leong Onn however, encountered transmission problems in the last stage and was forced to clock out of the final service over the time limit after replacing his gearbox. The wily pair however took advantage of the new 2007 Super Rally rules and took a 15 minute penalty that resulted in them finishing Day 1 in 13th position overall while P.Nandakumar and Suresh Sharma were 6th overall and 1st in class.

The first 4 stages of leg 2 saw Lim Leong Onn climb back up the leader board while Nandakumar was rapidly closing in on the 5th overall position. This spectacular comeback however was not to be, when Nanda rolled his car 4 times in the second last stage. Fortunately, both Nanda and Suresh were unhurt and still managed to get the battered Perodua Kelisa back, to finish the rally 12th overall and 3rd in class. Lim Leong Onn and Kamarul Anuar managed a 2nd fastest overall time in SS 12 and finished the rally 7th overall and 3rd in class.

The mental tenacity and spirited drive exhibited by both crews did not go unrewarded - the Perodua M5 Racing Team managed to score enough points to win the Team Award Trophy for the Round 1 of the Felda-AAM Malaysian Rally Championship.

Team Manager Garry Chua said “It was a good start to the season despite the problems. The battle for the team trophy will definitely be an interesting one this year. With so many teams entering the next round we hope to score maximum points to keep our lead in the championship.”

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