One weekend, three podiums for Proton Motorsports

One weekend, three podiums for Proton Motorsports

How was your long Malaysia Day weekend? Proton R3 Motorsports had a good one. Their Satria Neo participated in three events – Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) in Great Britain, Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in Japan and Malaysian Super Series (MSS) at Sepang – and ended up on all three podiums.

In Rally GB, Tom Cave completed an impressive SWRC debut for Proton by finishing second ahead of Yazeed Al-Rajhi third after the Saudi driver was handed a five-minute time penalty for two speeding offences on Saturday. Craig Breen, driving a Ford Fiesta S2000, won the rally, putting himself into joint second place in the title chase, eight points behind championship leader PG Andersson.

Proton’s PG finished sixth in Cardiff after he damaged his Neo’s power steering running over a log on stage 17 following his restart under Rally 2 rules on Saturday. The comeback included two stage wins. Young Welshman Cave did well in what is only his second outing this year for Proton – he won the Rally of Thailand on his Proton debut in July.

One weekend, three podiums for Proton Motorsports

Oceans away in Hokkaido, where the Japanese round of the APRC happened over the weekend, the Proton R3 Cusco Rally Team finished first, second and third in the 2WD category.

Malaysian Karamjit Singh continued his dominance in the 2WD category by winning it outright despite a puncture which lost him almost one and a half minutes. Pushing hard in his Satria Neo Group N rally car, Karamjit clawed his way back to take victory and extend his 2WD Championship lead.

The Flying Sikh’s teammate Akira Bamba clinched his second consecutive APRC Junior Championship title after finishing first in the APRC Junior Category and second in 2WD after his closest rival Michael Young from New Zealand crashed out in Leg 1. Malaysian junior driver Kenneth Koh rounded off the weekend by finishing second in the Junior category and third in 2WD.

One weekend, three podiums for Proton Motorsports

Their senior counterparts driving the Satria Neo S2000 weren’t so successful – both Alister McRae and Juha Salo retired in Japan.

Closer to home, the Proton R3 Race Team pair of Syafiq Ali and James Veerapen won the Malaysian Super Series (MSS) at Sepang with one round to spare. It was a roller coaster race that included off track excursions, but the team made a strong comeback to finish in fourth, and clinch the title with an unassailable 70-point lead.

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Danny Tan

Danny Tan loves driving as much as he loves a certain herbal meat soup, and sweet engine music as much as drum beats. He has been in the auto industry since 2006, previously filling the pages of two motoring magazines before joining this website. Enjoys detailing the experience more than the technical details.

 

Comments

  • NeoBest! on Sep 18, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Itu dia..champion again !Neo memang best sekali, pandu Neo saya pun rasa shiok ! Semua kalah GTI, ST, RS haha…Proton sudah mari !

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  • UntitleD on Sep 18, 2012 at 3:03 pm

    I’m proud to be a Neo driver, but it makes me wonder, who are their competitor in those races? If we never know, these wins mean nothing.

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  • 125 hp vs 250hp…lol

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  • joe caprio on Sep 18, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    but bila proton mau bikin this car into production?? jgn lebeh tak guna… better buat mcm mitsui and subaru… kereta yg telah downgrade abit jual as a production car… kalau tak NEO ni harap chasis jer la..

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  • joe caprio on Sep 18, 2012 at 3:21 pm

    but bila proton mau bikin this car into production?? jgn ckp lebeh tak guna… better buat mcm mitsui and subaru… kereta yg telah downgrade abit jual as a production car… kalau tak NEO ni harap chasis jer la..

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  • eichang on Sep 18, 2012 at 4:57 pm

    aiseymen…..no point to bash proton la today……..kuikuikui

    *sarcastic mode on

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  • MoFaz on Sep 19, 2012 at 12:54 am

    very rare… we have ‘proton’ in the title of this article but the comment section seems very quiet.

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  • LobsterChop on Sep 19, 2012 at 8:21 am

    This kind of competition is largely depends on the skill of drivers and the expertise of the mechanic. Manufacturer just play a role of playing money. The neo is using a Renault engine under the Proton hood. But at least Proton has the will to wax up their brand and it will be determined by whether Proton has put effort in transferring the rally tech to their production cars.

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    • zidane on Sep 19, 2012 at 11:36 am

      the car driven by karamjit and akira bamba is using 1.6 campro…

      Only s2000 using ranualt engine… read more brother…

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  • Kalun on Sep 19, 2012 at 11:45 am

    Proton chasis with Lotus Handling(Proton R&H), Renault NA 2.0l engine, 300bhp, Wide-body kit,
    It’s still 70% Proton Genetic in it. The rest is renault and name brand multi-plate clutch

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  • My Neo CPS went to Bukit Putus Touge, along with my frens – 1 MK5-GTI & 1 Ver.9 WRX STI. Lead the touge, left behind those 2. Neo indeed come with great chasis & handling

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  • vee-oh on Sep 19, 2012 at 5:10 pm

    high speed and touge neo cps is ok..but pick up wise, aiyaah die lor..heavy body and lazy revving engine

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  • where are all the bashers?
    please tell here that proton is jaguh kampung and it will be bashed like no tomorrow! lol

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  • Vandal on Sep 28, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    neo; the proud of proton motorsports division

    btw, neo owner here!

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