22 October 2011, MELAKA - Karamjit Singh was in no mood to be beaten as he steered his Mitsubishi Lancer to victory in the opening day of Round 3 of the Malaysian Rally Championship in Tanjung Bidara, Melaka yesterday.
The 48-year old Karamjit, was just too fast and too good for the 24-competitor field to finish Day one which cover a total distance of 72 kilometres, to take the winner's flag in style.
In fact he was brilliant and over the entire seven stages of the race which included a special stage of 2.41km held at the Masjid Tanah Industrial Estate, he never had any trouble at all to return a total time of 1 hr 02:28.8secs which is a good seven minute lead over the second placed Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya and his co-driver Sean Gregory.
There is another six stages to come on Day 2 on Sunday to complete the Melaka leg but on the strength of his performance on the opening day, Karamjit and his co-driver Vivek Ponnusamy, are headed for a brilliant finish to the round.
The pair, who are driving under the GSR Pennzoil banner are lying third overall behind leader and defending overall champion Muhammad Rafiq with a six-point gap but things could change when it's all over.
For now Muhammad Rafiq in his Subaru Impreza are still the overall leader but only just because their second placed finishing yesterday was just about enough to keep them in front.
Muhammad Rafiq and co-driver Sean Gregory clocked a total of 1hr: 10:03.1secs with third placed Mike and Maruthi Arokiasamy in a Proton Satria in 1hr 15:03.0secs.
It was clear Muhammad Rafiq was just contented to stay in the hunt and not try anything spectacular simply because he knows his chances are still wide open.
"It was a comfortable drive for me today. Even though the track conditions changes from stage to stage, I was in control of the situation. Another good race tomorrow and another good round in the final race next month and I could still end up champion," said Karamjit.
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