The rally officially got underway last night with a run through the spectacular Gloucester Park super special stage on the outskirts of Perth, where large crowds gathered to watch two cars race head-to-head around the purpose built floodlit track.

Karam made a fairly cautious start in his PETRONAS / Malaysia Airlines sponsored Gp N Proton PERT to complete the stage in 14th position.

Leg 1, the longest of the rally, re-started at 07.00 this morning, taking drivers south of Perth for four special stages close to the Stirling Reservoir and Murray River before returning just to the east of the city for two more stages and concluding with two more runs over the crowd pleasing Gloucester Park super special in Perth.

Unusually cool and wet weather for this time of year has left the roads of Western Australia damp and extremely slippery. The stages of Rally Australia are characterised by millions of tiny ball-bearing like stones which gives the impression of driving on marbles in the dry and are swept away by each passing car.

The rain however has helped to bind some of this loose gravel lowering the disadvantage of running first on the road, but patches of mud and water continue to ensure that the stages remain notoriously slippery.

Despite suffering from the ‘flu, Karam gave it his all as he tackled the opening stages of Leg 1 this morning. A 5th fastest stage time on SS2 quickly elevated him from his overnight position of 14th up to 6th in the Production Car Championship and there was plenty more to come.

Running no lower than 7th through the next three stages to the south of Perth, Karam and Allen then set a blistering 2nd fastest stage time on the 23.03km Beraking stage behind title contender Alister McRae, elevating them to 3rd in class.

With a podium position in his grasp Karam continued to push hard through SS7 to overtake Gianluigi Galli for 2nd position. Ending the day with two safe runs through the Gloucester Park super special stage, Karam maintained his position and will start tomorrow’s Leg 2 lying in 2nd place behind McRae.

His efforts today have also placed him in 11th position overall in the rally.

Karam comments: “The stages have been fun today. I have been pushing, but not driving at maximum attack. The stages as always in Australia have been very difficult to drive as they are extremely slippery and it’s very easy to go off.

“I’ve had no major moments today, just one slight off into a mud bank on special stage six. For a little while I thought we had picked up a puncture, so I slowed which maybe cost us a fastest stage time.

“The plan for tomorrow is to maintain our pace. Alister will be very difficult to catch if he doesn’t have any problems, but if we can match his pace and not let him get any further ahead, there is always the chance that he will make a mistake.”

“Jani Paasonen is only a few seconds behind and has to catch me to win the Championship [with Alister leading]. He will be going maximum attack tomorrow, so I will have to try hard to keep everyone honest.”

Tomorrow’s second leg is based east of Perth and covers 127.15km of competition. Drivers leave the city at 08.00 to contest eight special stages close to the small town of Mundaring, before returning to Perth for two final runs of the Gloucester Park super special track. Cars will enter the final overnight halt at 20.02.

PWRC leaderboard after Leg 1:


1) Alister McRae/David Senior (Subaru Impreza WRX) 1:21:53.3
2) Karamjit Singh/Allen Oh (Proton PERT) 1:22:38.9
3) Jani Passonen/Jani Vainikka (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO8) 1:22:50.1
4) Xavier Pons/Oriol Juila (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO8) 1:23:01.7
5) Niall McSea/Michael Orr (Subaru Impreza WRX) 1:23:17.5
6) Fumio Nutahara/Satoshi Hayashi (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO8) 1:24:51.7
7) Toshi Arai/Tony Sircombe (Subaru Impreza WRX) 1:25:14.7
8) Nasser Al-Attiyah/Chris Patterson (Subaru Impreza WRX) 1:27:04.8