Proton at Rally Hokkaido – Alister McRae finishes third, and APRC driver’s title goes down to the wire

Proton at Rally Hokkaido – Alister McRae finishes third, and APRC driver’s title goes down to the wire
UPDATE: Winner Gaurav Gill has been excluded from the results due to a technical infringement, and the APRC Driver’s title is now a two-horse battle between Proton drivers Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson.

Proton may not have been able to crown a champion at the Rally Hokkaido over the weekend, but three of its cars finishing on the podium in round five of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) was nevertheless a very good outing for the team.

Initial honours went to Indian driver Gaurav Gill, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, though a technical infringement meant that his exclusion from the final classification results. As such, Toshihiro Arai, in a Subaru WRX STI, has been classified as the overall winner, with Gill’s MRF teammate Katsuhiko Taguchi coming in second. Alister McRae completed the podium by finishing third in his Satria Neo S2000.

Beginning the second leg of the rally 31.4 seconds adrift of Taguchi in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, McRae won two of the morning’s four special stages to close the gap to within 18.5 seconds, but in the end had to contend with third place despite closing the gap to within 8.8 seconds and being the fastest driver on Leg 2 of the rally.

The results in Japan will set the stage for a three-way battle for this year’s APRC crown, with McRae now leading Proton team mate Chris Atkinson, who retired on the first day, followed by Gill, with the title to be decided in the next and final round of the APRC, in Longyou, China in November.

Proton at Rally Hokkaido – Alister McRae finishes third, and APRC driver’s title goes down to the wire

“We had a good run in Japan, considering that the terrain and stages suited the turbocharged four-wheel drive cars better. The results might have been a lot different had it not been for McRae’s puncture and Atkinson’s retirement on the first day, but that’s the nature of rallying,” said Proton Motorsports head Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood.

“Having said that, the Satria Neo S2000 performed well against the more powerful turbocharged cars and the results are testimony to the level of progress we have made in terms of development of the car, which we have demonstrated this season by winning three of the five rallies so far. One more round will determine the APRC championship and rest assured that we will be fighting hard to end the season on a high note,” he added.

Completing the good outing in Japan were the dominant drives demonstrated by Proton’s two Group N 1600 Satria Neos. The team secured two podium finishes with Karamjit Singh and Japanese team mate Akira Bamba finishing first and second respectively in the APRC 1600cc Two Wheel Drive category.

Bamba also secured the inaugural FIA APRC Junior Championship title, with the Cusco-prepared Satria Neo Group N rally car. Meanwhile, Gunaseelan Rajoo clinched the Class “A” title in the APRC 1600cc Two Wheel Drive category in a Class “A” Proton Satria Neo.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • izzat on Oct 03, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    Change the engine or they will catch u guys..huahuhauhauhauaaa =D

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    • VoidDance on Oct 03, 2011 at 2:01 pm

      What do think they put in the car? CamPro? It a Renault engine la…

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      • autojohndoe on Oct 03, 2011 at 3:06 pm

        they use CamPro in the Group N rally, driven by Akira Bamba and Karamjit…

        renault engine only in S2000.

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    • wlighter on Oct 03, 2011 at 4:13 pm

      its a renault engine lah noob~ comment use brain abit lah

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  • taboogen on Oct 03, 2011 at 12:36 pm

    thing will get interesting at the last minute in motorsport.. anything can happend… go go proton… after this proton will be famous in Japan…. gambateh

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  • BadBET on Oct 03, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    karamjit rules…. congratulations to proton.. good job so far

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  • KarimSopian on Oct 03, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    Congratulation Proton and team!

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  • research on Oct 03, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    good job proton! but winning races doesn’t mean that ur cars are better than others in the streets.

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