Malaysia Rally ace, Karamjit Singh steered the Proton Satria Neo to claim victory at the 2nd round of the Malaysian Rally Championship. The Flying Singh dominated proceedings by winning 9 of the 14 special stages of the rally in Johor, known as the toughest rally stage in Asia Pacific.
Karamjit’s years of rally experience in the tough and slippery stages in Malaysia had paid dividends as he and co-driver Manohar Menon, managed to fend off the likes of the much more powerful Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza. More astonishingly, this is the first time in the rally’s history that a 2WD 1.6-litre car won the rally, defeating cars twice more powerful than the plucky Satria Neo.
“I never drove so intense in a rally in a long time. It was very hard work,” said Karamjit Singh. “The Proton R3 team did a fantastic job and provided me with a car that was trouble-free and performed well even under challenging conditions,” he added.
His teammate, Kenneth Koh, however suffered a disappointing rally following a broken driveshaft that forced him to retire on the final day.
The rally in Johor also saw the fourth round of the 2014 Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) where the rally was won by the Skoda duo of Gaurav Gill and co-driver Glenn MacNeall of Team MRF, just 15 minutes difference from Karamjit’s Satria Neo times.
Our heartiest congratulations to Karamjit and Proton Motorsports for the astounding victory in Johor!
FINAL CLASSIFICATION TOP 5 (Malaysia Rally Championship)
1. Karamjit Singh(MY)/Manohar Menon(MY) Proton R3 Rally Team Proton Proton Satria Neo 03:16:33
2. Fan Fan(CHN)/Fang Jun Wei(CHN) Wan Yu Rally Team Mitsubishi Mit Lancer EVO X + 00:04:14.6
3. Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya(MY)/Maruthi Ariokiasamy(MY) MRU Motorsports Subaru Imprezza + 00:07:04.5
4. Aji Kim(JPN)/Hiroto Kondo(JPN) MRU Motorsports Proton Satria Neo + 00:26:43.4
5. Mohd Shazly Ilias(MY)/Ahmad Saifuddin Azraie(MY) Privateer Mit Lancer EVO VI + 00:41:30.5
[Source: Proton Motorsports & Malaysia Rally Championship]
