Karamjit Singh raced to victory in the Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC)

Another historic win for Karamjit Singh and Proton. By Arvind Kumar

It was action packed rally action at the second round of the Malaysian Rally Championship (MRC). The event which took place in Johor saw our local rally ace Karamjit Singh take top honours in one of the toughest events on the calendar. Conditions did not help either as torrential rain turned sandy gravel conditions into a muddy slurry of chaos which caused many accidents for the drivers.

Fourteen stages were held over three days within the vicinities of Johor Bahru and Kota Tinggi. Karamjit piloted his 2WD 1600cc Proton Satria Neo R3 rally machine through to win nine stages against more high-powered turbocharged 4WD monsters from Subaru and Mitsubishi. The icing on this mud cake is the fact that it’s the first time a 2WD 1600cc rally car has ever taken top honours in the ten year history of the MRC in Johor.

Leg 1 saw Karamjit taking six out of eight stages with a commanding lead of 1 minute 45 seconds ahead of Chinese driver Fan Fan and his Mitsubishi Evo X. Leg 2 saw a hard charging Fan Fan trying to claw back time as conditions dried out. Karamjit had secured one stage win within the first three stages only to have Fan Fan take back the next three stage wins.

Fan Fan’s gamble did not pay off as he lost time in a spin-off due to pushing too hard. Karamjit went on to capitalize, winning two more stages and thus etching his name into history with a commanding 2 minute 47 second lead.

Proton R3 junior driver Kenneth Koh also drove well, coming back from last place due to an early penalty to an overall fifth place after leg 1. Unfortunately a broken driveshaft forced Kenneth into an early retirement while on course for fourth place in Leg 2. Only one point separates Fan Fan and Karamjit Singh who currently leads the championship going into the third round in Negeri Sembilan on the 18th and 19th of October.