Proton is looking to continue its good fortune in the second round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), the International Rally of Queensland, which begins today.
After winning the season opener, the Malaysian Rally, last month, Proton is currently leading the Manufacturers Championship with 35 points and the newly-incorporated APRC teams trophy with 54 points. Drivers Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae are also first and third in the drivers standings, with 33 points and 21 points respectively.
In last year’s Australian outing, both drivers were blazingly quick in the Satria Neo S2000, winning all but two of the stages – Atkinson clocked five fastest times from nine special stages on the opening day and a further six quickest times from eight special stages on the second day. It didn’t end with victory, however – Atkinson’s car stalled in a water crossing, while McRae was forced into retirement after hitting a large rock on the final day.
So the boys are back, looking to bag the glitter this time around. “There’s a real feeling in the team that we’re coming back to finish what we started in Queensland last year. We were really quick last time out, but we didn’t get the result. We want to change that this time,” said Atkinson.
“Competing in front of the home crowd does bring an extra element of pressure and expectation, but nobody expects more from me than I do myself. The roads over here are really good, and it rewards big commitment from the driver, which is what you want. There’s no doubt it’s going to be a big battle, particularly with Alister. Alister was fast here last year, as he was in Malaysia earlier this year, so he’s certainly going to be one for us to watch,” he added.
Meanwhile, McRae said the Satria Neo S2000 appeared to be well suited for the conditions in Australia, especially with more improvements made in terms of power delivery.
“The car felt very, very impressive in Malaysia after the work the team had done to it over the winter and we’ll be looking to getting even more performance out of it in here. Chris won in Malaysia and I would like to win here, but it’s not going to be easy to beat him with all the local support,” said the Scottish driver, who now resides in Australia.
Elsewhere, Proton will also be looking to continue its lead in the two-wheel drive manufacturer standings for the APRC Rally Cup, as well as the APRC Junior Championship, after an outstanding debut by the Japanese-based Proton Cusco Rally Team whose drivers took the team’s Group N Satria Neos to a one-two victory in Malaysia.
In Australia, the PCRT will be fielding Japanese driver Akira Bamba – who won the class in Malaysia – and veteran and multiple APRC champion Karamjit Singh, who is making his return to the championship.
Meanwhile, as a run-up to the rally, the Satria Neo S2000 was earlier pitted against a Eurocopter BK117 in a promotional “Rally Car versus Helicopter Race,” an event which had Proton winning it last year.
This year, however, the race against a helicopter with twice the number of engines and five-times the power output saw the Satria Neo S2000 narrowly beaten by three to two runs down the runway at the Sunshine Coast Airport in Marcoola.
The rally has received a record entry of 96 cars, including 16 overseas participants, representing 10 countries. Run over three days, the rally will cover 19 special stages with a competitive distance of 230.79 km driven over gravel.
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Ppl who say Proton not sponsoring rally ?? Just that not sponsoring the flying Singh Karamjit anymore ….
boo to proton for importing drivers for their rally car. tadak semangat patriotik. ptui.
Karamjit already past his prime. proton need someone who is competitive and have international experience. Mcrae and Atkinson have experience in WRC compared to Karamjit who only have experience in Group N. Plus, Both Atkinson and McRae have experience in latest rally compare to Karamjit who struggle with Satria Neo s2000 in his last outing with it.
klguy..say somthin that’s not reflect urs knowledge..
karamjit drove the s2000 before,but he agreed the car doesn’t fit him so much plus s2000 is a left side drive. let karamjit prove it now using Neo Cusco,then see the result and continue ur opinion.
err..can proton pick me as a driver ;)
klguy, which kl u r? k.lumpur or kg.lalang..
karamjit already drive the S2000 bfor but he agreed the s2000 is not suit with him. plus,it’s a left drive car. but u can now see his perfomance through Neo Cusco after this..either u like or not with the result comin,u shud accept it..
U are the ones which does not have the patriotism…go proton!
Good luck
Interesting!! Getting White men to bring up our “jaguh kampong brand”. Whats wrong with our local boys not good enuf to drive the shitty car!!!!
Maybe Proton should also try getting a whiteman to turnaround the manufacturing division too.
Maybe Proton CEO might just believe the white folks since he trust them to trash our rally cars.
They already give the chance to karamjit to drive the neo 2000.. But karamjit refuse to drive for them due to left side drive… Why always wanna bash proton.. Even if i owned a racing team i will choose the driver that have a better chance to win.. This so called JAGUH KAMPONG BRAND already win the race and cuurently leading the in point….
There’s Colin in his blood for goodness sake. Son and brother to famous rally drivers. Its in his gene. A good organization will pull the best they can find. No matter where you find it. Europe has an established framework of breeding motorsport stars. You cannot deny that. It is this infrastructure of competition and accessibility that generate great drivers.
alfie60 comment is a reflection for Malaysian thinking. Personal preference above merit. Paper qualification above experience. Color of skin above performance. Nothing has evolved. There is no inherent need to achieve efficiency. There is no rationalization. As long as it FEELS good; its good.
so why dun you try offering yourself bro? tell me, who, beside karamjit that has world class rally driving skill?
clear the local and asean first than you could talk dude..
lol… reading your comment, I strongly believe deep inside your heart, you are a proton lover – thus the use of word ‘our’ in your comment… e.g our “jaguh kampong brand”, our rally cars.
Jagoh Kampong Brand is already for Perodua laa kawan. Proton is no more Jaguh in Malaysia..
Do we have local talents that have world class rallying skill? and Do you watch Malaysian Rally?
The Senior director of Engineering and Manufacturing; Dr Epple is a German
gogogo!! dun waste the RM1.5Million worth Satria! Win all race.
next, perhaps satria neo s2000 versus euro jetfighter!??
i don’t see anything to be proud of besides the chassis , nothing in the car actually speak proton at all…if this car is in production line, at least we can claim it’s ours ..but except chassis nothing in the car really is part of proton ..the only thing really speak proton is the brand on the car itself…the victory was won by drivers not by the cars they drive.
I think chassis is a big matter. If not the chassis what else? headlight bulb? wheel nuts?
Chassis is what makes a car. People can always swap or modify the engine, suspension, brakes, seats etc but chassis… the most is it gets strengthen by bars or additional spot welds thats all.
Then u will argue this means that neo s2000 chassis is not the same with the one on the market. Come on bro. See the application. If Proton sell Neo with the same chassis configuration with s2000, your kidney will burst.
The most important thing, it bears ‘PROTON’ name..
check the cusco neo… you will be surprised.. :p
how can u drive a car without the chassis?chassis is the major parts that will change the driving ability,stability and response..have u ever think why no myvi is being use in APRC or IRC?
that why it called s2000. they need to follow certain rules. if you want to see rally car almost as the production car go see satria neo cusco. Group N comfirm. aiyah…
good job proton!
Good Luck to proton S2000 and cusco SAtria
Hope the lucky god is on ur side and prevent unwanted Object pop up in middle of track and screw the Car.
Let pray no matter u r wat religion. So we can proud for once and become milestone to get into WRC
Though i hate Proton production cars, the Satria S2000 is a damn good looking car…
Love it when he did that hand brake turn! He made it look easy.
haiya lu olang keje mau bashing saja, buat itu salah buat ini pun salah lu olang mmg pandai cakap saja kan? hahahha pitty u olang :D
Ferarri origin from Italy, dulu ambik Micheal Shumacher from Germany tadak orang Italy bising2 pasal patriotik pun. Yang penting champion
What is the point of winning with the satria neo s2000 and the company is not making profit? Winning the race can help the company to earn more profit?
After all these while, the money use to research is like throwing into sea which has nothing in return which is why they need to rebadge the lancer to inspira… Hopeless…
here we go again with the rebadge issue, paul..please explain..again..
yeah… how many times need to explain this… penat lah…
pffft.. some guy just dont learn. read more jalan54.
You all didn’t get my point, is not the issue of rebadging, is the issue of going into the race and not getting any profit out of it. Money wasted in research which has no return on investment.
If all these money were save to use in proper research, they can choose not to rebadge. In order for a business to become successful, it must do something that make sense and something that will bring return, not doing something without any objective.
Maybe I’m wrong, but can anyone please tell me, what is the objective of winning the race here with the satria neo s2000? So that proton become more famous? If this is the objective, why do they want to become famous? Become famous can help them to earn more profit?
The major problem for proton now is that they can’t produce a quality automobile and all the vehicles produced by them are over priced. If not because of the protection from the government, they can’t survive in this market at all.
Who wants to buy proton if vios and city is only RM40k. Who wants to buy proton inspira if lancer is only RM70k.
My main question here is, will winning the race help proton in terms of building quality cars, and therefore earn more profit? Guys, please bare in mind that proton is still losing money until today.
I dont know what to say. Your comment just plain stupid.
Do you know what marketing is?
haha..another short thinking person here…
you don’t talk about business if you know nuts..
winning the race can help ALOT in profit making..
thats what been there for many car makers back then..
it puts you on the map..help sell more cars..
at least they are making progress than you short minded that been left at the third country mindset..pity you..
see Ferrari for reference :)
Then we shall see how far proton can go. If not because of the protection from the G, proton will be long gone. People were already been con so many years, yet they still believe in it.
I never say proton has no improvement, they have, but it is very tiny compare to a lot of other automaker. Also, I know you guys are proton supporters, since you all are the supporters, why don’t you all tell me why proton is still losing money? Any particular reasons?
Company that has been around for more than 20 years with a lot of G support and protection can still lose money, I don’t know what kind of business is this, I’m really a shame of it.
Also marketing is one thing, reputation is another thing. They are giving the life time warranty for their power window which I think is good, but then, the power window was there for a very long time, now only they are trying their very best to solve this issue. Anyway, better late than never. But please bare in mind, power window is just one of the tiny issues proton has, they have many more issues to solve.
Spending money in marketing is good, but is this the main issue? CEO from proton, if you visit this forum, I knew you know what I’m talking about, I can also see that you are trying your very best to rebuild proton reputation, but it is just not enough, it is not there yet.
I said all these is not that I hate proton, is just that I really hope that we as customers can enjoy a GOOD QUALITY national car with a very reasonable price and can compete with all those japanese, korean, german, france and others in terms of everything so that I can stand proud and tell the world, see, we Malaysian can have a world class standard cars also, and when my friends from other countries ask me what car I’m driving, I can say it loud and proud, I’m driving our own national car, Proton!!! Don’t you all supporters want this to happen???
Reminds me of Bugati Veyron vs a jet fighter. Though I doubted why such session was made, still it’s fascinating to watch. Proton is getting better, drawing more attention from the world. Really, a good move by Proton.
Why use yellow? So ugly…lazy to think of another color issit? waste of rakyat money…
yellow with black stripes -> doesnt that remind u of that particular animal in proton’s logo?
if you dont know anything about this car….
better dont talk…
cause you just put shame to yourself…
this car is MEM funded project…
why ferrari use red? why lotus use BRG? yellow is malaysia sporting color. see malaysia football,hockey,a1GP, track team, bicycle. should i say more?
its good way for the image. we hope proton road cars will deliver the same at least for soon 2012.
so far the proton suffer from engine performance inefficiency for daily use. and minor quality problem.
we really really hope 2012 will end the unpleasant story about proton.
Good job proton! Haters just cannot admit that they starting to love proton haha
Pink suit this S2000 coz this car looks like a women car.
for sure u owned a pink Myvi and u realize that neo was extremely better than ur pink myvi…..
Talks, praise etc is cheap.
Click the link for the final result of the rally.
http://www.rallyresults.com.au/arc/2011/qld/aprc_Final.pdf
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spoiler:
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Best Proton Satria Neo with its experienced drivers can managed is fourth place.
Electrical gremlins (since few years ago untill now..sigh) and inability to deal with water strike again.
winner? a 39 years old British fellah.
top three are evo x.
karamjit finished in 9th place, 19 minutes behind the fastest neo and almost 25 minutes behind the winner.
there are 18 cars overall. only 14 reached the finish line.
Next round in New Caledonia , 17-19 June 2011.
Hopefully, in addition of publishing the participation of proton in this rally, paul tan will publish the rally result too. Proton lose but that normal. You cant win all the time, even Loeb (rally living legend?) didn’t.