Victory in India was not enough to win Karamjit Singh his third successive overall Asia Pacific Rally Championship title who lost out to Germany's Armin Kremer by a single point.

Victory in the MRF India Rally came at a heavy price for Karamjit Singh who after a valiant three-day campaign finished the season just one point short of winning his third successive Asia Pacific Rally Championship crown.

The PETRONAS EON Racing Team driver charged to win the last three stages in the third and final leg of the rally finishing two minutes ahead of his nearest rival Armin Kremer but second place was enough to allow the German to win the title by just a single point.

Karamjit had scored 52 points, creeping from fourth in the championship for a shot at the title while Kremer had accumulated 53 points. Finishing third in the rally was Nico Caldarola who was more than six minutes behind Kremer and could not give Karamjit the buffer he needed between himself and Kremer in defending the title.

"Kremer drove a very courageous last three stages to win the championship. We came to India confident of a victory and we accomplished just that but we were unfortunate not to have won the first of the three legs and that really cost us the title," said PERT Team Manager Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood.

"Karamjit put up a valiant effort and it was commendable to see him spring himself back into championship contention over the last two rounds of the championship after what I would consider almost a year of misfortunes for PERT."

The outgoing APRC champion meanwhile said: "I’m very happy to have won in India because it is a very special country to me having rallied here previously in the local championship...but it is very frustrating to lose the Championship by one point.

"Kremer is a very, very good driver and although the rally was rough, it was the same for all the competitors."