The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) has dug into its own coffers in allocating special funds to sponsor the 2020 Moto2 campaign of Malaysian racer Hafizh Syahrin, announced Youth and Sports minister Syed Saddiq last Friday.
“I have contacted Datuk Razlan Razali (Sepang International Circuit chief executive officer) and I will ensure Hafizh would be in action in Moto2 even though Petronas did not want to sponsor him,” said Saddiq in reports by Bernama.
SIC will channel the funds to the Angel Nieto Team. The 25-year old Malaysian will ride alongside Aron Canet for the outfit.
After becoming the first Malaysian rider in the MotoGP class with Yamaha Tech3 Racing back in 2018, Hafizh has had a less than stellar season with the KTM Tech3 team this year following the switch to a KTM GP16 over the Yamaha YZR-M1 last year.
SIC themselves will be on the receiving end of RM37.5 million under the Budget 2020 that’s from the coffers of KBS as well. However, the intended purpose of the funds wasn’t detailed in the report.
Once again, it looks like grassroots motorsports pulled the short end of the stick in the draw.