SEPANG: Former production car world rally champion Karamjit Singh dropped a bombshell today.
Karamjit, who currently competes for Cisco Racing, is ending his long standing allegiance to Proton and will be switching to Perodua machinery this season.
The Flying Sikh said it was a necessary move as Proton is no longer interested in supporting his rally endeavours.
Karamjit won his 17th Malaysia National Rally Championship (MNRC) title in a Proton Gen2 last year.
"I have always been a Proton fan and have been racing Protons since 1988 until now," said Karamjit.
"Unfortunately, we do not have any support from Proton (anymore). Since I bought this Gen2 in 2017, I have spent over RM500,000 of my own money to modify it for racing. I have used up all of my EPF savings on this, not one cent is left (in account).
"My (Cisco Racing) boss said forget Proton, lets try a Perodua. Anyway, the current trend at the world level is to use smaller cars such as the Myvi.
"It is lighter and easier to race, so I said why not, let's give it a try. Who knows, Perodua might sponsor us in the future.
"We have plans to meet with Perodua to discuss with them about this (sponsorship).
"At the moment, the idea is to use the Myvi to race in MNRC this year but if Perodua sponsors us then we could also use it in the Asia Pacific Rally Championships (APRC) which requires a bigger budget."
Karamjit disclosed that it will take at least three months to develop an MNRC-spec Myvi at a cost of RM500,000.
It would cost closer to RM1 million to prepare a car which can be competitive at the APRC level.
"We have decided to use the current generation Myvi and power it with a 2 litre turbocharged engine, coupled with a four-wheel-drive system," said Karamjit.
"We have not decided on the specific engine we will be using for the car, we can use either Toyota, Subaru or Mitsubishi drivetrains.
"Of course this will require extensive modifications to the chassis. The entire process will be done here in Malaysia."
Karamjit, who turns 61 later this month, was speaking during the prize giving ceremony for last year's Vantage MNRC at a hotel in Sepang today.
He won the main MNRC overall title together with long-time co-driver Jagdev Singh. Ikhsan Husni and co-driver Teh Yie Sing won the two-wheel-drive category.
The new season of MNRC, which is organised by Purnama Rally Motorsports Club, is expected to begin in June.