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After a heartbreaking season opening Monte Carlo Rally, Proton Motorsports has collected its first points of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. Italian driver Giandomenico Basso finished ninth in the Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés in Spain, the second round of IRC 2011. The rally was won by Skoda’s Juha Hanninen ahead of teammate Jan Kopecky and the Peugeot of Thierry Neuville in third.
The yellow Neo S2000 of Basso was the best placed car that wasn’t a Fabia or 207. Team mate PG Andersson completed the rally in 16th place. Proton now has 16 points, two behind Subaru, but a long way behind powerhouses Skoda and Peugeot.
“It is a positive result to start with the new team…I think we did a good job and now that the event is over, we will be discussing what further improvements we can make to the car with as there is still a long way to go in the championship,” Basso said.
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PG Andersson lost a lot of ground on Day 1 of the rally due to two punctures. The Swede stopped to change a first puncture but with the absence of a second spare tyre, was forced to tackle special stage six nursing a slow puncture. That dropped him to drop to 19th overall, but the ex JWRC champ fought back hard on the second and final day to reduce the deficit to 16th.
After Monte Carlo, the team will be happy to see two cars finish the rally and put some points on the board. This also comes after Proton’s win at the APRC season opening Malaysian Rally earlier this month.
The next IRC event is the Tour de Corse at Corsica Island, France next month.
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Good Job Guys! Made us proud!
I was looking at Drivers list in IRC’s website and saw driver with ‘FIA A’ or ‘FIA B’ tags. What are those actually? someone care to explain?
Are you referring to the 4WD and 2WD categories ?
I was referring to this results http://www.ircseries.com/html/uploadedFiles/PDF/2011416204924.2.RACE.pdf
It appears that Basso and PG Anderson who drive for Proton have ‘FIA B’ priority tag. Some with ‘FIA A’ tag and others with no tag at all.. I wonder what those tag means? Looking at the regulations page at irc website (http://www.ircseries.com/html/Sporting_Regulations.asp) gave no answer
maybe it was the license grade for rally competitors….
either fia-A category or fia-B category…..its related to the number of FIA approved race joined by them i think…..
correct me if wrong….
What is so great about these achievements when the most basic of basic also cannot do?
For example, ensuring quality is improved on its street cars. For example, till today, 20 years later, Proton auto windows are still getting jammed and spoilt within weeks of purchase. My Waja, even the door handles came of within 1 year. All 4 came off.
So again I ask, what is the use winning Rally championships when the most basic ie ensuring quality also tak ada.
waja windows use old and unreliable system, new generation of proton persona and exora use more advance and reliable, auto windows problem is old issue only in waja
My Persona automatic windows got spoilt in 2 months. Its across the the whole range lah macha. Go to any toll plaza and see, nearly every Proton got to open the door instead of winding down the screen. Either rosak or owner scared it will become rosak.
ayo..my 2011 altis also got power window problem after 1 month. p1 n toyota use same vendor ya?
My myvi a.k.a tongkang oso got window problem. getah sangkut. eeekk ooottt..eeeekk
U dont have Smart Tag ah? Poor you..
not using the power windows at all can also contributes to power windows malfunction, due to hardened rubber, rusty system or switch
do u know that even Citroen and peugeot until now facing unresolved quality issues with their production cars?? how shallow of you to questioned the relationship between production and motorsports…pfffff
even nissan/toyota/honda got quality issue..recently nissan faced problem on fuel gauge component . this is unacceptable since nissan-renult is major automotive player!
yer laaa… my 2007 latio mati tgh jalan.. ingatkn enjin problem.. fuel level show half tank… this happen last year.. the sc guy said they can fix it.. but it happen again last month..
aiya different department maa……this rally under advertising/image dept…..ur door handle under quality department….advertising dept has done some good job sio far……….rally, f1
but really this power window joke is old oledi……..are u sure u bought this waja last year?
My uncle’s Merc SL320 R129 Coupe also face this problem. maluu wooo naik merc nak byr tol kne bukak pintu. merah muke aku time byr tol. dahla kete warna maroon.
I think u cant afford to buy proton
Nicely progressed and the 2nd pix is superb!!
Congrat proton…. please upgrade your engine or still left behind!!! … if possible maybe can modified proton inspira engine if mitsu allowed…
good job Proton!!
At least reliablity problems is pretty much sorted and both cars can finish the rally. The 9th spot and points finish is a good consolidation over hard work by the team. However the Satria Neo is much slower than the well established 207 and Skoda Fabia. Time to get some engine upgrades!
They got long way to go in double effort to compete other fast pace manufacturers.
Wow this is good for P1 fan…
Maybe P1 can consider to really ‘compete’ in local market. Abolish all those rubbish tax and see how good P1 is with their top of the line model. Those yellow neo not 100% P1, engine from renault, chassis from uk, driver also foreigners (this one ok la).
All P1 fans can just ‘proud’ n keep driving crap cars.
Congrats…
Do you know haters gonna hate….btw my persona ok je….
If news about Proton there are two MUST have comment..
1. Power window..
They always start with ‘My waja have problem with power window after 1 week i bought it (but I forget to mention that my waja is 2nd hand year 2000 one)
2. Tax..
“Y gomen don’t want to abolish all car tax so we can buy better car from oversea? (but we forget to mention that we must follow all tax structure from oversea like 45% income tax, even work as a cleaner also tax. And also Abolish all subsidy like other country).
Haiya.. if you wanna better car, just work smarter n harder la.. if not.. just buy urself 2nd hand car cash without installment.. At least no hutang to burden u every month..
chassis from uk? this good chassis made by only one plant on this world, it Tangjung Malim in Perak. and we proud of it.. and what ever your say.. we always proud of it.. it made by malaysian cmpny, and made by MALAYSIAN.. it MADE IN MALAYSIA.. YES!!!
Aduss,
U can proud all u want. My mistake. what i mean that the chassis is tune by UK tuner.
Hopefully P1 can enjoy all those motor sport events with the full spirit of competition while u are forced to buy their limited range of cars with full list of unreliable issue.
ask the G to abolished car tax, than they will increase the income tax to max 40% – 50% like those country with low car tax.. haha i prefer high car tax rather than high income tax. at least i can avoid paying more tax by buying local car rather than paying high income tax.
hehe… setiap kereta yg hendak masuk rally, car chassis mesti di re-tune supaya ia selamat ketika perlumbaan.. it not your mistake.. but you not understand the rule..
Adus
What I mean is S2000 neo rally car is tune by European not Malaya as always proud by P1 fan.
Anyway tune up the chassis for rallying is not enough P1 should improve the safety feature to their road cars as well.
At least an air bags and ABS as standard.
correct..i went to TM plant last week with my students. the only plant that build new chasis. and i saw every piece of them.huge and high tech plant. i saw every process there and i’m proud of that..
oo g melawat PTMSB, i rindu my robot2.. diaorg sihat2 ker? huhuhuhu
I like the menacing look of the Neo S2000, except the design of the rear fender meet the bumper.
From quarter angle, it looks like it lost it’s rear bumper by accident. But may be the rear overhang is too short for the designer to do anything..
dan mereka mereka sedih kereta VIVa mereka takdapat main rally.ptfffffff
Hahahahaha.. the best comment!
good job…
At first glance I thought Proton has won the Rally…
This is an under achievement.
This shows that the car is just not in the same category
as the bigger boys. Buck up or shift out – reality hurts !!