Remember the Proton Iriz R5 (now Rally2) rally car? Well, it’s about to spawn a rallycross variant in the shape of the Iriz RX, which is being developed as a collaboration between Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM) and Tony Bardy Motorsport. The car will be campaigned by Team RX Racing, owned by driver and 2007 British Rallycross Champion Ollie O’Donovan.
Announced at the end of 2020, the car was due to compete in a number of World, European and British Rallycross Championship events last year but has yet to be seen, with a long-serving Ford Fiesta ST taking its place. However, a teaser posted by the team suggests that the Iriz will finally make its debut this year.
You may be forgiven for thinking that the sole photo shows the front grille, but it’s actually of the rear tailgate. The sizeable holes cut into it function as vents for the rear-mounted radiator commonly used in rallycross – the repositioning helps improve weight distribution and prevent damage from crashes that often happen with door-to-door off-road racing.
Technical details have not been released, but the Iriz RX will be built to Supercar regulations, so expect the tiny Malaysian hatchback to push out a monstrous 600 hp and 840 Nm of torque to all four wheels. The car should be powered by the R5’s Mitsubishi-sourced 4B11 turbocharged four-cylinder engine from the Proton Inspira, likely without the sleeves to increase cubic capacity from 1.6 litres to the full 2.0 litres.
This, however, will mean that the Iriz RX will no longer be eligible for the World Rallycross Championship, as the latter moves to an all-electric formula for 2022.
GALLERY: Proton Iriz R5 replica
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where is the King..? King cant rally or what..? lemah…
Even the original not race engineered iriz tall CG car has higher output but cannot achieve King Title.
Hmmm, stock car Satria Neo was still better
Tall CG is not an issue as it is just a matter of playing with components weight distribution around the car. What matters most, and what Mellors have elaborated, are the more modern & superior engineering plus the compact yet stable platform of Iriz against Satria Neo. Read what Mellors have to say. Jeremy would have been proud to race it.
https://paultan.org/2019/12/20/proton-iriz-r5-uncovering-the-truth-with-chris-mellors/
I’m here. I retired after they banned Group B.
Myvi Gen 1 went rallying around 2008 but not much media highlights