Karram's back!

[Rally Hokkaido]

Just heard that Karamjit Singh has entered APRC Malaysian Rally in an Evo 9.
After a season or two running an ancient Evo 3 in his national ch'ship ( and usually winning), the region's top driver is making his international comeback in two weeks time. I don't have any more details on the car, but will endeavour
to find out.
Entries for Malaysia should be published this week and I expect to see an entry for Toshi Arai too.
Add to the above the facts that Malaysia is Katsu's true home event and that Cody is only having his second run there, and the mix should result in the closest fought round of the ch'ship, so far.

[Rally Hokkaido]

Well, Karam's mount turns out to be an Evo8.
An ex-Niel Allport car, apparently.

[Stalks]

It's actually Dermot Malley's old Evo 8 (yes, built by Allport), having been recently campaigned in the New Zealand championship by Patrick, who now has a brand new Evo 9 (also built by Allport).
Good to see Karam back.

[hooligan74]

Yes it is Dermott's old Evo 8. I co-drove Dermott in the car on some APRC events in 1995 and I can vouch that its well built and maintained. Karam is still trying to clear the car from customs in Malaysia and with just a few days to go before reccee and the event, he will have no time to test and set up so its going to be difficult for us to be on the pace straight away.

Its going to be a fierce battle between Toshi Arai, Katsu Taguchi, Cody Crocker, Jussi Valimaki and Karamjit Singh.

[Rally Hokkaido]

Yes it is Dermott's old Evo 8. I co-drove Dermott in the car on some APRC events in 1995 and

Hi Hooligan!
With all the rallying you do it probably seems like 12 years ago since you sat beside Dermott!

[hooligan74]

Hi Hooligan!
With all the rallying you do it probably seems like 12 years ago since you sat beside Dermott!

Oooops!!....I meant 2005. Still have not got last night's piss out of my system.

[TheDogBox]

I've not seen the official entry list yet, but I understand Toshi will run a MotorImage Subaru but is not competing for APRC points, and that Karamjit is trying to find backing to run the rest of the series.

This isn't confirmed yet, but we're going to try and interview them at shakedown for the APRC Live podcast.

Also, Gaurav Gill is making his second appearance in the series, after his big off in New Caledonia.

[TheDogBox]

I've not seen the official entry list yet, but I understand Toshi will run a MotorImage Subaru but is not competing for APRC points....

Confirmed. Singh confirmed in the APRC field, plus Gaurav Gill and two Indonesian drivers from the Pertamina team, Subhan Aksa and Akbar Hadianto.

[Rally Hokkaido]

Thanks for the info, TheDogBox.
I'll look forward to the podcast.
Here's the entry list.
http://www.malaysianrally.com/aprc20...y_list_mr7.pdf
Just so there's no confusion, even though he's seeded car 2, Toshi will start behind the 2007 registered APRC crews (likely in front of Car 10. Karam). Likewise, if Karam runs other APRC rounds this year he will still have to run behind those registered (registration closed before round 2) and won't be eligible for any points.

[TheDogBox]

One other thing I noticed. While Toshi is not running with the APRC crews, he is back with Glenn McNeall as co-driver.