KARAMJIT VICTORIOUS ON DAY 1

12 MAY 2012, KANGAR - Karamjit Singh or better known as the Flying Sikh does what he do best - Winning rally that is.

He swept to victory in the opening day of the Kangar round of the Malaysian Rally in Kangar leaving his opponents wondering what it will take to dislodge him.

Together with co-driver Nicole Ann Gill in their Mitsubishi Lancer they completed the 62 km course across the sugar plantation of Chuping to win in a total time of  40mins 39secs leaving New Zealander Brian Green and Fleur Pedersen in a Subaru Impreza  in second place in 41mins 22.6secs.

Third was the 2010 Malaysian Rally champion Muhammad Rafiq Udhaya also in a Subaru Impreza in  42mins 59.3secs.

The day had started off reasonably well for Karamjit in the 2.68km special stage where he finished thirdfastest but from then on there was no looking back.

He brushed aside the challenge of the rest of the field to win comfortably and then declared that he is looking forward to the next round in Johor Baru in two months time.

"I have a new car, a Mitsubishi Lancer  which we brought from New Zealand. It is now in Port Klang and once we take it out from there will will prepare the car. I am looking forward to driving it.

It will surely be better given it's condition as compared to the present car," said Karamjit who is driving under the GSR Repsol Air Asia banner.

But for now Karamjit is still the man to beat.

Even China's Fan Fan, the winner of the Malaysian round of the Asian Pacific Rally Championship last year, could not catch up with him.

But then again, Fan Fan ran into some problems yesterday. His Mitsubishi Lancer which he brought from China was delayed by the Port Klang strike recently and it was ony an hour or two before the rally flagged off yesterday that his car arrived in Kangar.

"Obviously we could not get the car certified because of the late arrival and we had to get him another car. Obviously he struggled with some one else's car. It's a pity really because he is such a talented driver," said Gunaseelan Rajoo, the team leader of the GSR Repsol Air Asia Team under which Fan Fan is driving.