AFTER two thrifty yet successful years in top level rallying, Saladin Mazlan (above) announced yesterday he was leaving the sport to turn his attention back to professional polo.

Saladin cited financial problems due to a lack of sponsorship to fund his rallying activities as the main reason he has quit.

He also admitted he was frustrated with the country’s current motorsport system where there’s not enough support for the local rallying scene.

“Everybody involved in rallying suffers from it from the organisers of local championships to new talents getting into the sport.

“Malaysian motorsport seems only focused on one direction where certain parties are only out to make a quick buck and development is neglected.

“Sadly, rallying is the worst hit,’’ lamented the 30-year-old Saladin, a former classmate of Alex Yoong.

He added he approached the Motorsport Commission of Malaysia last year for urgent help but his effort proved fruitless.

For the past two years, Saladin with his self-funded Saladin Rallying Team —featured in 24 events around the region.

They recorded wins in Thailand, Indonesia and China besides winning the 2005 Malaysian Rally title and the South East Asia Rally Championship.

Saladin funded his participation in those races with income derived from his professional drive for the Shanghai Volkswagen team in the Chinese Rally Championship .

It ’s most frustrating that those successes just went unnoticed by the public.

“It now depends on the ‘system’ to wake up and take a good look around, and be sincere and realistic about Malaysian motorsport,” said Saladin.

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