Karamjit Singh

Karamjit Singh (Punjabi: ਕਰਮਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ, romanized: Karamajīta sigha; born 29 January 1962), also known as the Flying Sikh, is a Malaysian professional race driver in rallying, and was the first Asian driver to win the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Production Car World Championship for Drivers, doing so on his first try. He has been rallying professionally since 1985. He has won the 2001 Asia Pacific Rally Championship for Drivers, the 2002 FIA Production Car World Championship for Drivers, as well as the 2002 and 2004 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship for Drivers. He has raced for the Petronas EON Racing Team and Team Proton Pert Malaysia using Proton 4WD rally cars. His co-drivers have been (in chronological order) Ron Teoh, Allen Oh and John Bennie. Karamjit is currently racing a 2WD Proton Satria Neo CPS R3 for the CUSCO Japan team in the Asia Pacific Rally Championships in 2011[1] after moving from the Proton R3 Malaysia Rally Team[2]

Karamjit Singh
Personal information
Nationality Malaysian
Born (1962-01-29) 29 January 1962
World Rally Championship record
Active years19941997, 2000, 20022005
Rallies32
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points1
First rally1994 RAC Rally

Sponsorship difficulties

In 2005, Singh began facing trouble in finding sponsors, and was unable to participate in half out of the eight rounds in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. His team itself did not have enough money to pay for mechanics and maintenance of his vehicle, and due to his absence from so many rounds in the championship, the FIA slapped him with a fine of 10,000 Euros. Singh did not even have enough money to ship his vehicle back to Malaysia from New Zealand, which itself would cost about RM57,000. Singh's plight made the headlines of a few newspapers in Malaysia, who had been informed that Singh was in the process of selling off his apartment to pay his fine and ship his car home.

When informed about the possibility of receiving public or government assistance, Singh refused such offers, stating that he believed he could find enough corporate sponsors to avoid burdening the public. Rather than accepting assistance from individuals, Singh said he would consider racing for another country. When informed, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reportedly asked: "If Karamjit is a Malaysian and has been producing results and bringing honour to the country, why has support not been accorded to him?"

The Malaysian Sports Minister, Azalina Othman Said, was also reported as stating that she had been ordered to look into the matter, and that "we want to find out why the private sector have not come forward and secondly, if Karamjit has someone to manage him and put forward his cause in the right perspective so sponsors can come forward and use the spin-off from their association."

Sponsorship resolved (July 2007)

After a couple of year partial absence from the rally arena, now Karamjit Singh has the opportunities to have a kickback in action via a new management and sponsorship. Teamed up with corporate entities (Aldwich Berhad), Karamjit has starting a new team known as Team Templer Motorsport. And Also A Logistic Company In PJ sponsored. Alps Freight Logistics.

WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts
1994 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Wira 4WD MON POR KEN FRA GRE ARG NZL FIN ITA GBR
24
NC 0
1995 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Wira 4WD MON SWE POR FRA NZL
15
AUS
13
ESP NC 0
Proton Persona GBR
17
1996 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Wira 4WD SWE KEN IDN
EX
GRE ARG FIN AUS ITA ESP
12
NC 0
1997 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Wira 4WD MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL
11
FIN IDN
6
ITA AUS
Ret
GBR
17
34th 1
2000 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Pert MON SWE KEN POR ESP ARG GRE NZL
18
FIN CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR NC 0
2002 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Pert MON SWE FRA ESP CYP
17
ARG
12
GRE KEN
10
FIN
22
GER ITA NZL
Ret
AUS
18
GBR NC 0
2003 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Pert MON SWE
27
TUR NZL
21
ARG
13
GRE CYP
Ret
GER
27
FIN AUS
17
ITA FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2004 Petronas EON Racing Team Proton Pert MON SWE
35
MEX
15
NZL
21
CYP GRE TUR ARG
Ret
FIN GER
22
JPN GBR ITA FRA ESP AUS
Ret
NC 0
2005 Team Proton Pert Malaysia Proton Pert MON SWE MEX NZL
18
ITA CYP
Ret
TUR
Ret
GRE ARG FIN GER GBR JPN FRA ESP AUS NC 0

References


Sporting positions
Preceded by
Possum Bourne
Asia-Pacific Rally Champion
2001 & 2002
Succeeded by
Armin Kremer
Preceded by
Armin Kremer
Asia-Pacific Rally Champion
2004
Succeeded by
Jussi Välimäki
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