Proton Motorsports launched its 2011 Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) campaign few hours ago at Sunway, with the team preparing for the season opening Rally of Malaysia this weekend (1-3 April) in confident mood. Proton regarded last year as a learning year, but expects better results this year.
“We have proven that the Satria Neo S2000 is a race winning car. We are out this year to prove that it is also a championship winning contender,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, head of Proton Motorsports. Proton Group MD Dato’ Sri Syed Zainal Abidin, who firmly believes in the power of motorsports, also shared this view, urging the team to stand on the podium and win races this season.
Proton will field two Satria Neo S2000 cars piloted by Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson. They will be joined by two Group N Satria Neos campaigned by CUSCO of Japan. These two lightly modded 1,600 cc Neos will be driven by Kosuke Takashino and Akira Bamba, the latter looking like a J-pop boyband member. These cars are being sold to competitors in Japan wanting to race in the APRC and domestic rally championships.
The Neo S2000 has collected some improvements over last year, mainly in the suspension and engine. For the former, MEM has worked together with Dutch company Reiger for a setup that has more travel and with less friction in the dampers. Engine wise, they worked on the mid range for a stronger punch out of corners with less need to downshift. This complements the already strong top end response.
Last year, Proton finished second in the APRC Manufacturer’s Championship and its best result was a 1-2 finish at the China Rally. The brand is no stranger to winning in the regional series; it was champion in 2001, 2002 and 2004. Besides APRC, Proton is also competing in this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC).
I focused my lens more on the CUSCO Group N car, as we’re all rather familiar with the Neo S2000 by now (click here to see it in action in Monte Carlo). Gallery after the jump!
[zenphotopress number=999 album=2110]
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Cool! Way to go Proton!
Yea…hopefully can bring all those commitment, passion and quality throughout all proton’s production lines…
Good job proton…
hope to see neo competing in wrc one day
Proton is driven by Japanese. Great! (Hopefully, Proton will appear in future The Fast and Furious films, heheh)
Feel proud.
PROTON LOTUS WON PODIUM F1 AUSTRALIA LAST WEEKEND !!!! – CONGRATULATION!!!!….MOVING TOWARD
yeah than sound good
I like this post. Let support Proton Satria Neo .Hope this year will bring Proton to more better ..
The entry of two teams using the Satria Neo proves that the Satria Neos have got better recognition by world rally teams. Way to go, Proton!
wait for Hyundai/Kia to start racing the forte Koup and this neo gonna cry…satria neo is a joke la…heavy chassis….same as other team…beware of the Korean….
Who says the Satria Neo chassis is heavy…? All recent models are heavy because they need tough chassis constructions to meet international crash standards which becomes tighter. But for the rally, all seats and door trims are removed, and the front seats are replaced with the racing ones which are lighter. Even the dashboard becomes naked as well. Then the chassis will be reinforced by installing those many bars inside the cabin to form a roll cage. Therefore, rally cars must be light yet rigid at the same time.
Bring on the koreans then. Why wait? If It’s so good then the Koup should already win all the Rally championship. Learn more la about Rally since obviously you knew nothing. You think this is the North South Highway race? Ooops even there a Koup won’t pass a Neo. Cannot pass a joke car then how good is the Koup? You think Koup is at Subaru Imprezza level eh?
No one scares of anybody in a Rally. It doesn’t only need a good car it also need luck and lots of skill. You won’t see Bugatti Veyron win a rally race. You also won’t see Loeb winning Rally using just a kancil no matter how much turbo you put into the kancil.
Unfortunately for you the Japanese doesn’t drive joke cars in a competition. Cusco won’t associate themselves with a joke car. If there’s a better choice of car they would choose a Japan car.
No action, talk only.
Let them enter first then we can compare. For now, let the race begin.
Results tell them all.
Eh, Korean Forte ka? I thought even Hyundai Accent WRC also bungkus already..
Nowdays rally car are almost built from B segment car laa wei. Look at Ford Fiesta WRC, Citroen DS3 or even Peugeot 207 S2000 and Fiat Punto also are from B segment car.
I think you know nothing about rally..
guys judging by the nick obviously he’s a troll la
is the cusco car in a standard proton colour? or has it been repainted? and any idea what rims the cusco car is using?
btw, where was this event? was it open to the public? i’d love a peice of the proton-cusco shirt!
It says Sunway Pyramid, presumably at the convention centre level 3.
why the cusco car got plate number wvb 5026…. look like road tax stick on the windscreen ?..
Any Rally car must be registered on-the-road, regardless of country.
Even if it must be, those cars seems to bear Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur plates and not Japanese plates. On the other hand, the MEM’s Satria Neos bear British plates.
that car was prepped in malaysia…by malaysian…using parts send by cusco japan…along with some of their technician/engineer…
go search youtube for pre-event interview from Wheelspin for this APRC 2011 round
the first race is malaysia for APRC. so its easier, and cheaper to build the cars here. rather than build in japan, then send to malaysia.
there are some neo’s racing in the japan championship built in japan.
Mind if i ask, why is the name “S2000”? Got anything to do with Honda S2000??
2.0cc
If genuinely don’t know, google it.
super rally for 2.0….thus ‘S’ ‘2000’…
regulation…it’s running on s2000 regulation
wat happened to karamjit singh??
The last time i met him was 2001-2002,when he won the APRC if i’m not mistaken,and he told me P1 won sponsor him for reasons i forgot what he said,but Peugeot wanted to sponsor him but he turn them down because he love P1 n wanted it again.
I think last year i read abt him in magazine that he has a rally school ,and his co-driver Allan retired from rally few years back.
the last time i been to Allen Oh’s house in Bangsar was in 1996…. hehehe…. very nice house….
actually, PERT team at the time Karam won the championship is run and owned by EON and main sponsor is petronas. proton is also one of the sponsors. I believe it is Petronas who is the one that pulled out in a big way. and if you notice today, Petronas is only interested in f1 and motogp and no longer rallying.
Karamjit Singh still competes locally via the GSR Pennzoil team in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 machine. He wont be participating in APRC but he will be running the local MRC instead.
What’s the spec for the Cusco Neo. Is it the same engine found in SNR3. What’s actually lightly modded means?
I think before this a lot of people condemn Proton Campro no good. Rubbish this and that. Can not compete with other engine. What say you now??? It must be Cusco know nothing about cars that they chose a neo with a campro engine isn’t.
cool! nice eye lashes! lol..i enjoyed the neo s2000 in top gear
No doubt that handling wise, the Satria Neo is excellent…. Lets hope to see Proton winning some rallys !!
even me, as a citizen is very proud. imagine for those engineer who involved….
Good luck Proton. Make us proud.
Salam…