If you think you have the endurance and drive to keep your right palm glued to a car even if you have to stand under a scorching sun and in torrential rain, you may have what it takes to break the Subaru Palm Challenge record and win a Subaru Forester 2.5 XT.

The Subaru Palm Challenge is back for its second year.

MotorImage Cambodia will host the competition on August 11 in front of the Sorya Shopping Centre, on Street 63 near Central Market. Registration is open from July 2 to 30.

Thak Sotheavy, from MotorImage Cambodia, says that this year, she expects more contestants than last year, but she has to be selective and pick about 80 of them to compete in the event.

“Last year, 100 people registered to compete but only 70 of them were eligible.

“This year, I hope there will be more people registered, because I’ve heard that some of last year’s contestants will bring friends, so we’ll select around 80 people.”

The palm challenge is for people who have sportsmanship and high endurance, a quality that represents Subaru itself, Sotheavy says.

Hourn Phany, a media manager at a real-estate company who participated in the Cambodian and Singaporean competitions last year, told the Post he planned to take a break from work this year to join the challenge again.

“The experience from last year in Cambodia and Singapore will be a great asset for me to win this challenge,” says Phany, who was one of the last men standing in Singapore.

“I hope that I’ll do better than last year.”

The 10 finalists of the challenge in Cambodia will fly to Singapore and join 390 contestants from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Macao and Singapore.

They will draw on their ultimate endurance skills to outlast one another, battling against harsh weather conditions, sleep deprivation, hunger and thirst and keep their right palms firmly on the Subaru Impreza cars.

The contestants are given a five-minute break once every six hours – at 1pm, 7pm, 1am and 7am.

Last year, 25-year-old Hourn Phany lasted longer than the nine other Cambodian contestants.

The ultimate winner of the US$70,000 Subaru Impreza WRX 2.5, however, was Singaporean Chong Kiat Chi, who managed to stand with his palm on the car for 75 hours and 36 minutes.