Karamjit Singh also known as the Flying Sikh, is a Malaysian professional race driver in rallying

Rallying

Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...

, and was the first Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

n driver to win the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...

 (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

Petronas

PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and...

 EON Racing Team and Team Proton

Proton (company)

Proton is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer headquartered in Subang Jaya and Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, with a manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. Founded in 1983, it was Malaysia's only carmaker until the establishment of its competitor and arch-rival, Perodua, in 1993...

 Pert Malaysia using Proton 4WD rally car

Čar

Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...

s. 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

CUSCO Japan

CUSCO is a Japanese automotive parts company, specializing in car suspension parts. They're most famous for their coilover suspensions, and are a large presence in the Japanese after-market automotive scene both in Japan, and in the JDM scene around the globe....

 team in the Asia Pacific Rally Championships in 2011 after moving from the Proton R3 Malaysia Rally Team

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 mechanic

Mechanic

A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...

s 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 Euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s. Singh did not even have enough money to ship his vehicle back to Malaysia from New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, which itself would cost about RM

Malaysian ringgit

The Malaysian ringgit is the currency of Malaysia. It is divided into 100 sen...

57,000. Singh's plight made the headlines of a few newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s in Malaysia, who had been informed that Singh was in the process of selling off his apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

 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

Prime Minister of Malaysia

The Prime Minister of Malaysia is the indirectly elected head of government of Malaysia. He is officially appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the head of state, who in HM's judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House of Representatives , the...

, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi

Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi is a Malaysian politician who served as Prime Minister from 2003 to 2009. He was also the President of the United Malays National Organisation , the largest political party in Malaysia, and led the governing Barisan Nasional parliamentary coalition...

 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

Azalina Othman Said

Dato' Seri Azalina binti Othman Said was the Tourism Minister in the previous Cabinet of Malaysia. Before that, she was the Youth and Sports Minister. She is a member of the United Malays National Organisation , the main component party of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional.Azalina is the Member...

, 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 partially 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.