Proton has won the 2011 Malaysian Rally, which ended earlier today in Johor – Chris Atkinson took the win for Proton Motorsports ahead of Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill, with team mate Alister McRae finishing third overall. The result gives the team’s 2011 Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) campaign a massive early boost.
Making the most of an entirely new suspension set-up and significant engine enhancements, Atkinson steered the signature yellow Proton Satria Neo S2000 to victory to finish 1 minute 36.6 seconds ahead of Gill in a Lancer Evolution X.
It was Atkinson’s first victory with Proton (and only his second podium finish) since joining the team last year. For co-driver Stephane Prevot, the result was also significant – the Belgian marked his 300th rally with the victory.
Restarting the third and final day of the rally in Kota Tinggi, with a lead of 2 minutes 10 seconds, Atkinson was quickly forced to concede 30 seconds to an attacking Gill when he had to nurse a right rear puncture sustained midway into the opening 12.42 km SS at Tai Tak – Court House.
With the punctured tyre replaced, and unable to afford another puncture, Atkinson then paced the Satria Neo S2000 through the two remaining 11.97 km and 14.26 km special stages to head back for the scheduled service interval. With four SS remaining, Atkinson needed only to steer clear of trouble and maintain his comfortable lead to the finish line.
“This is a fantastic result for Proton. The Satria Neo S2000 performed extremely well throughout the rally, and it’s especially satisfying to have been able to demonstrate the car’s true potential, competitiveness and its level of pace and performance in front of the home crowd,” Atkinson enthused.
McRae’s third place was a notable achievement, considering that he was forced off the pace midway yesterday due to an overheating problem, which was later resolved. The problem, caused by debris and vegetation blocking the air path to the radiator through the front bumper grille, cost him more than four minutes on Day 2. Nonetheless, the podium finish places him second behind Gill in the Asia Cup category.
As for the Proton Cusco Rally Team, the two debutant Group N 1600cc Satria Neos driven by Akira Bamba and Kosuke Takashino finished 8th and 9th overall respectively, and both drivers also clinched first and second place in the APRC Junior Cup category.
Many thanks to Gary Lee of Proton Motorsports for his snazzy snapshots.
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Congratz Proton for making to the top in the rally competition.
Congretz! urmm… what happen to our Flying Sikh? is he driving Proton Neo S2000 too?
he’s driving old evo if not mistaken….his front wheel tercabut running away if i remember….
sheee… thanks to Renault S2000 engine…
Karamjit Singh no longer active in rally world because Proton need some world class rally driver that ever complete in WRC such as Alister McRae and Chris Akinson.
karamjit was WRC Group N champion back in 2002. No doubt he has passed his prime today but for sure he was world class.
The one and only Malaysian rally driver who has achieved his goal in early PWRC 2002 championship. We should be proud and cherished of his primetime sportsmanship.
wahai EVO X, sdap x mkn asap neo s2000???hahaha..
we can show that we can make a car that smoke evo x… (^^)b
Police can replace their EVOs with Satria Neos.
wow, seemed like malaysia win all! Proton win top three with Satria Neo and Inspira!
+1 for the red Inspira! Good job Proton team!
yeah… that one is rebadged Inspira X… lol
Inspira turbo!
Yeeehaaa!
WRC next for podium finish.
Well done Proton Satria Neo. Lovely car.
easy win? toshi arai is gone, taguchi not around, cody crocker not around…gill was top10 guy..guess its an easy win…
A win is still a win regardless.. well done to the Proton team!
Do u understand that reliability and accidents does matter in rallying? Either u just a negative thinker or just a anti Proton fan to think like that….
Btw Toshi Arai was not in the competitor’s list.
Still massive congratulations to the Proton team, they got the results they deserved! Double podiums and no retirements in a home rally. What else u could ask for?
h2o, easy win? please go check up on the stage times, then you will know. there are stages time for taguchi, and cody as well vs the protons. dont make yourself look uninformed. ;)
Taguchi and cody retired on day 2…..dude do you know who Chris and mcrae is?okokok…the later brother is more famous and successful…but he still a former works driver for few wrc team…and Chris atkinson is the most successful Aussie rally driver he is a regular point finisher with few podium finish his best result finish 4th overall in wrc…
And yes the red inspiration deserved some credit too…… :)
easy win? how about you try to go rally. see how easy is it. why do you expect huh? bring back all APRC driver from 1988 to compete to make sure the Proton win fair and square? think before comment la bro.
huuuuuhhhh! :) at last… proton won… yeahhh!!. proud with proton… next time win again… i love neos2000….
What do you mean “at last”…. Our Neo is a regular podium visitor mann..
Another reason why Proton is wayyyy better than Perodua..hehe..good job Proton!!
huuuuhh! at last… you won proron.. congrat… proud with you…… i like neos2000..
congrat proton, proton must consider a 2.0 or 1.8 neo in the future…
some nice picts. good job
Terbukti di Litar Lumba!
Congratz Proton
Brilliant race from brilliant driver having to overcome reliability issues as expected from a proton..
If they were Malaysian drivers, and Satria with Malaysian made engine, I would support
bro….cusco neo using campro engine and they win junior cup category with their groupN spec. satria neo…(stock engine+body)
only with race gearbox+LSD+suspension upgrade+brake upgrade…..and definately part from official cusco itself…..
haha,,so Mr. Jonny will buy his first Satria,,,thanks…
this is global world and proton is a small global company, try think out side the ‘tempurung’ once in the while. Even our rice is imported.
congrats to our beloved S2000~ :D
Hoyeaah! Congratz Satria Neo! next time, win some more so I can smile more often!
Hopefullu Neo can win in next APRC..Bravo proton show the world that you can smoke other car’s…ha..ha