Click to enlarge
The Proton R3 Malaysia Rally Team will compete the full 2011 season of both the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) and the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), as announced at the launch of the team’s 2011 campaign by Youth and Sports Minister Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek hours ago.
As we reported last month, two-time Junior World Rally champion Per-Gunnar Andersson will join familiar faces Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae as pilots of the Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car. P-G, who hails from Sweden, has agreed to drive for Proton for the IRC’s season opening Monte Carlo Rally later this month (18-22 January).
“For now, we are with Proton for Monte, but we will be talking straight after the rally to see what is possible for the future. I’m very happy to join a team which is looking forward to a good future in the sport,” the former Suzuki driver previously said. Team officials confirm that negotiations to secure his services for the entire IRC season is ongoing.
Click to enlarge
Proton’s IRC challenge will be led by former Subaru WRC man Chris Atkinson while Alister McRae leads the team’s APRC charge, which starts with the Malaysian Rally in April. Aussie Atkinson is relishing the unique challenge posed by the historic Rallye Monte Carlo, which is 100 years old this year.
“Starting the season with the Monte is awesome. As a rally driver, this is the traditional place where we always start our year. I’ve always gone well on the event, but it is really tough. Running high in the Alps in January, you never know what’s really coming around the next corner: it could be dry asphalt, wet asphalt, snow or ice. It’s a massive challenge for the team and the driver, with one of the most important aspects being to get the tyres right,” he said.
On the topic of tyres, the BF Goodrich rubber for the Neo S2000 has been revised for 2011 with stronger sidewalls. This is from experience gathered from last season, where the APRC’s rough terrain in particular caused several punctures. The Renault sourced engine is now pushing out 305 hp, up from the previous 278 horses.
Click to enlarge
The team ended 2010 on a high, scoring a 1-2 finish at the APRC’s season ending Rally of China, in addition to a second place finish at Rally New Zealand. They are targeting higher this year, and Proton MD Dato’ Syed Zainal made it clear at the event that they’re expecting the team to secure podium finishes in both the IRC and APRC, and that “anything less isn’t acceptable”.
Another piece of good news is that two new sponsors – Yasmin Group and Sime Kansai Paints – are now on board, contributing RM500k each to the cause. We will be following the Proton R3 Malaysia Rally Team closely this season, so stay tuned!
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
even its proton team..i gave credit to M.E.M..who build this car from base model to today’s competitive rally team~..good job =)
even though prodrive who built the car for wrc, people will recognize subaru
absolutely bro..
it is funny to see some people is still in ‘denial’ syndrome.. kahkahkah
the base is still proton satria neo.. which is known for its great chassis.
give credit to both of them laah
but ppl still know its prodrive who make it successfull…and certainly prodrive earn the credit along being recognized by the world of motorsports….
certainly, M.E.M would get the benefits when the result is coming…don’t worry…
The team better do well in 2011 otherwise they better scrap off the rally program. The car has alot of potential and the driver lineup is actually quite good, well not Sebastian Loeb standards yet. They did quite okay in 2009 but bad luck ruled out them in 2010.
So with much experienced gathered, hopefully they do well in 2011! Good luck team!
Good Luck to proton R3 team!hope u guys will do well in this IRC and APRC.proud to drive neo as my car!
err.. does the so called “1Malaysia” finger is necessary? btw good job Proton Rally team!
1 malaysia is not related to politics..its for all of us malaysian
yeah right lol
Maybe they do that cuz they aim to be no 1…. 1Malaysia is still no 1….
Cant wait to watch Top Gear series to air where they actually play around with this car!
wow…
From 278 to 305hp!!!! on N/A @ turbocharge??? nice!! dapat sentuh, switch on engine dan duduk dlm seat s2000 time tour show proton baru nie pun dah cukup teruja dah hahaha.
all the best to Proton R3.. but plz… the proud is still there,(and will be).. but with all the buzz around turbo, hybrid, r3, rally, f1.. when do we gonna get the replacement of S.Neo??? im sure lotta fans here cant wait to see next gen satria!! i’m sure gonna get mine replaced..
and i really wanna see T.Djan drift in a “Made In Malaysia” product on a world stage with one of these Satria’s family sometimes soon..
p/s : Judging on others counter cars, where do u guys think these s2000 gonna be in both IRC & APRC 2011?
yeah…the upgrade of the horse power is like putting icing on the cake. they made it look like it an easy job to get more power from the 1.8 engine.
last year APRC, the team is plague with bad luck and minor technical issue and still they can finish high hence dato syed made it clear at the event that they’re expecting the team to secure podium finishes. if they can tackle the minor issue, i assume the APRC trophies is already in their bag.
as for the irc, we just have to wait and watch the outcome this season as it is more challenging and unpredictable as you may expect.
Honestly, not difficult to lead at all in APRC when you are the only S2000 competitors amongst the GrN production cars. The only problem is the reliability issue that they have to overcome.
As for IRC, it’s going to be interesting considering Peugeot and Skoda (and Ford) had been doing very well last year. On the contrary, previous Proton entries were not encouraging though eg Cronin in Zlin last year. The only good thing was the Satria Neo’s debut back in 2009 when he was third fastest in the opening stage of the Irish Rally Championship, but that quickly proved to be more of a tyre choice problem as other slower WRC drivers in SS1 and SS2 easily outpaced those with fast times by SS3, as road conditions changed.
salute!!
guys..i just cant wait..check this out..
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/series-16-montage
0.41 & 0.47 second..top gear is gonna review s200 cars on Top Gear 2011 series… wonder wut JC gonna say.. hahahaha
JC racist will say it bad.. no matter what.. only junk british cars satisfy his fettish..
yes there is s2000…haha…but i’m sure jeremy goin to brag about how good britain making racecar….
look like new livery..have more picture paul?
Wonder when will 1:32 diecast model of this rally car be produced? Can’t afford the real one.
Inb4 DuitRakyat :P
On a more serious tone, all the best for 2011 Proton R3!!
No more punctured tyres.. pls. Get a set of good tyres to match the increase of HP. Good luck!
I already saw the footage of Top Gear playing around with Proton R3 S2000. It was in the season 16 (due in Jan 23) introduction montage played during 2010 US Special (Christmas Double, the other one being Middle East Special where they went to see new baby stig!).
Forwarded screen capture of it to operator of this site…
nice sport rim. does anyone know what brand is that?
they’re speedlines
Finally…. they are going to compete in IRC, full calendar.
Just make sure this is not hangat-hangat tahi ayam announcement and commitment (i.e. change plan midway of the season due to macam-macam alasan).
Proton must compete with at least 2 car from the works team in every single IRC round!
As for target, Proton must target to be the top three manufacturer and at least one of Proton driver to be the top five driver in IRC 2011.
As for the APRC 2011… Proton must win both the driver and manufacturer category.
Nothing less than that.
The S2000 was used in the Top Gear OZ-UK Ashes episode.
i’ve uploaded satria s2000 on top gear australia VID –> http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=1536167408351
ayo yooo…langsung takde local driver ka…mana pegi Karamjit S…
heran2…
local driver dok cakap kereta proton tak bagus.. tak laju la.. takrarat naik bukit la.. so diaorg ambik org luar yg tahu bawak kereta proton.. hahahahah lawak jer.. jgn… marah…
didnt karamjit already get a chance to drive the car? http://paultan.org/2009/08/13/proton-r3-malaysia-rally-team-with-neo-s2000-and-karamjitjagdev-officially-launched/
proton is in deep shit if they din buy lotus…credit always goes to the mat sallehs…(and stop putting stickers on ur protons lotus…its downright pathetic…
i tend to agree with intermilan.
IRC
compete 2 cars, win top 3 manufacturer & top 5 driver…nahhhhh might as well go for top 3 driver..
APRC
ultimate winner in both driver and manufacturer
p/s : camon proton, we’re Malaysian not that poor. Plus in case u didn’t notice, there’s hell lotta Satria Neo’s club all over the world (thailand, uk, australia etc ) eager & follow these s2000 chronicles.. Built these IRC version of Satria Neo.. Make it two version..1.6 turbo @ 200hp & RM65k-75k and 1.8 rally spec N/A @ 250hp & RM75k – RM85k.. that would be awesome!!!
Wish you the best Proton. Go Proton Go.
I think this car can win ‘The Most Outrageous Wheel Arch’ award from TG…Look at that front wheel arch!!!