Next event:
International Rally of Queensland, Australia
(July 30-August 1)
Based on the Sunshine Coast, competitors in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship will not have far to go to the next round of the series, with roué four running just the other side of the Tasman Sea on Australia’s east coast. This event is running as an APRC round for the second season, but Australia has a long tradition of running APRC rounds in both Perth and Canberra. Based at the SurfAir hotel at Marcoola Beach, the event includes 20 stages – including a Friday night superspecial around the town of Caloundra, where the cars will start at 15-second intervals to ensure near non-stop action. The mainstay of the gravel competition will take place, as it has for the last 19 years on this event, in the forestry roads close to the town of Imbil, two hours north of Brisbane.
International Rally of Whangarei review
July 4, 2010
The PROTON R3 Rally Team turned in precisely the confidence-boosting performance the team needed on this weekend’s third round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the International Rally of Whangarei, with Alister McRae taking second in his Satria Neo S2000.
Both Scotsman McRae and his team-mate, Australian Chris Atkinson, were on the pace throughout the New Zealand event. Former British Rally Champion McRae only missed out on winning the Asia Pacific Rally Championship round after double New Zealand Rally Champion Hayden Paddon received a wildcard entry for the APRC element of the Kiwi competition.
Both McRae and Atkinson were driving with a finish and points as their main priority on the two-day event, which ran in dry sunny conditions on Saturday and heavy rain today (Sunday). But, despite a slightly conservative approach from the PROTO R3 Rally Team, both drivers were regularly in the top three APRC times, despite giving best in terms of local knowledge to all of the crews around them.
Atkinson was the quicker of the two Satrias out of the blocks on Saturday morning and the Queenslander kept his PROTON ahead of the McRae car until he was foiled by a freak failure of the alternator belt on the fourth test. Atkinson returned on Sunday, and returned in the best possible fashion with fastest time on today’s sodden opener.
McRae, however, kept up the pressure at the sharp end of the leaderboard and was rewarded with an entirely untroubled second place.
The PROTON R3 Rally Team will now turn its attention to the fourth round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the International Rally of Queensland at the end of the month.
Quotes:
Alister McRae said:
“I knew the car was capable of this kind of performance, and I know it’s capable of going quicker as well. Taking second in the APRC here is really important for the team, it’s a real shot in the arm for everybody. But now we want to win. We know we have the pace to win these APRC rounds and that’s got to be the next step in Australia at the end of the month. In the end, we had the perfect rally. We didn’t have to touch the car at all, the boys didn’t lay a spanner on the PROTON once, which is really encouraging from a reliability point of view. We weren’t going anywhere near flat out with the car, though. The main aim from this event was to pick up points and that’s what we have done. What a great place to go rallying, though. Even in the pouring rain today, it was fantastic to drive those stages again. You can really put the hammer down and push on, knowing the car’s going to stick before leaping over the cambers and into the corner. It’s been a great weekend.”
Chris Atkinson said:
“I love the roads down here in New Zealand and this car suited the roads perfectly. I was amazed at just how much speed you could carry through the corners in this car, there’s so much grip in the PROTON, it’s fantastic. We managed to set some competitive times on this event, which is pleasing. But what’s more important is that we know what we were doing to set those times and, believe me, there’s more to come from the car. We arrived in Whangarei with a bit of pressure on, you know we hadn’t pulled the result we might have done in the IRC round [in Ypres] and while we’d shown great stage times and Alister led and almost won in Malaysia, we needed to put some points down here. Unfortunately for us, we had a freak thing with the alternator belt on the first day, had it not been for that I reckon there would have been two PROTONs on the podium and who knows who would have been on which step! This has been a really positive and encouraging weekend.”
Chris Mellors (team principal) said:
“I’m happy with that result. Both drivers were out there under strict instructions about how to drive the cars, so we know there’s more to come from the Satria and Alister and Chris. I was really pleased with the way Chris went in particular, he showed some great speed and set some very good times, some of which we’re told were close to stage records set in the dry. Alister was, as usual, very competitive, quick and consistent. We’ve had a bit of a tough run recently, so to be heading home with a result, second place under our belts, puts more wind in the sails. We’re going to be doing some more testing and more development work ahead of the next APRC round in Queensland, like Alister said, we want to take that next step up the podium.”
Event data:
Round: 3/7, FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship
Based: Whangarei, New Zealand
Stages: 16
Liaison distance: 470.46km
Competitive distance: 285.26km
Total distance: 755.72km
Conditions: 14 degrees, sunny then heavy rain
Day one leader: Hayden Paddon (NZ) Mitsubishi
Winner: Hayden Paddon (NZ) Mitsubishi
Rally Hokkaido review
May 23, 2010
The PROTON R3 Rally Team once again demonstrated the pace and potential of the Satria Neo S2000 on last weekend's Rally Hokkaido - with Alister McRae taking points after setting more fastest times among the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship competitors.
McRae and his team-mate Chris Atkinson were both taken by surprise when they saw the nature of the roads used by the Japanese round of the APRC. The pair had been expecting fast but flowing roads, but they were faced with super-fast stages with long straight after long straight - the kind of roads which were going to play straight into the hands of their rivals driving turbocharged cars. Atkinson admitted the nature of the roads had changed considerably from when he collected a podium result on the World Rally Championship round which visited this area in 2005.
Despite being as much as 30kph down on their rivals down the long straights (due to the difference in specification of the cars), McRae led the APRC competition after the opening stage on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, that was as good as it would get for the Scotsman. He suffered two punctures on the next stage, but drove heroically for 15 kilometres to contain the time loss to just 50 seconds, and then hit an unavoidable rock in the middle of the car's underbody protection on SS6. When his Satria began to leak oil from the impact, he switched the car off. McRae and his co-driver Bill Hayes returned today (Sunday) and finished a trouble-free third over the course of day two.
Atkinson continued to level his learning curve in both the PROTON and the Super 2000 formula, posting competitive times before his Satria suffered an engine problem on the fifth stage. Given the high-speed nature of the stages, Atkinson's car had been on the rev limiter in top gear for three kilometres in the test where the problem set in. The Australian also returned for more competition on Sunday, but retired before the finish. Now, Atkinson and co-driver Stephane Prevot are looking forward to the next event. The International Rally of Whangarei means a short hop across the Tasman Sea from his Queensland home to New Zealand for Atkinson.
Quotes:
Alister McRae said:
"We've taken points for the championship and we've shown how quick the car is again on this rally. I've been in and around this sport for a while now and I've seen these kind of times come and go for a team like MEM and the PROTON R3 Rally Team, it's the ebb and flow of rallying. One thing is for sure, as much as I have known for any team, this team deserves and has the result coming. The guys are working absolutely flat out and we are going to win very soon - and when we do, we'll all have earned it. But, when things aren't going your way, they're not going your way. We were leading APRC runner when we got two punctures. We drove 15 kilometres like that and did well to only lose 50 seconds or something like that. Unfortunately we then had to drive the short stage with a puncture as well. On the re-run of the long stage, we hit a rock right in the centre of the sumpguard. A few kilometres down the road the oil light came on and we switched it off. Nine times out of 10 you'd have got away with it, but, like I said, when your luck's not in...
"We ran well on Sunday, when we re-started, and again set a fastest time in the APRC runners. We were third fastest through Sunday, and that was driving sensibly. This car and this team is overdue a result; for the sake of our championship aspirations, we need that to come next time out in New Zealand."
Chris Atkinson said:
"The stages we used in Japan we quite different to the ones I remember from the World Rally Championship event, they had a lot more straights in them. We sat on the rev limiter in top gear for a minute on one stage - that's so frustrating when you know that we're doing 175kph and the Group N cars with their turbo are going at speeds up to 210kph. It's also not the most interesting of challenges to be driving on straight roads. We had an engine problem with the car on Saturday when we were not far off the lead of APRC. This sport can be tough sometimes. But New Zealand is coming and we'll be right back on it there - I'm already counting the days until we can launch the PROTON through those cambers: it's going to be awesome."
Datuk Razak (team director) said:
"Rally Hokkaido was Proton's first outing in Japan. I think it's fair to say we have made some friends there! The level of interest in the Satria Neo and the Super 2000 programme was fantastic. All of the time we had an incredible level of support from the local fans, there was even a group who flew up from Tokyo specifically to see our car, after they had heard so much about it. Our drivers Alister and Chris were in constant demand to sign autographs for their new-found fans; all-in-all Rally Hokkaido was a very positive experience for marketing and building the brand in Japan - and the car and drivers showed very good pace again."
Chris Mellors (team principal) said:
"We came to Japan looking for the win and we haven't got it. I'm not going to start making excuses, that's not what we're about. Instead, we'll go away and further fine-tune what is clearly a very good car. Alister and Chris showed what the PROTON is capable of again here in Japan; Alister was leading the APRC standings after the first proper stage on Saturday. Nobody is working harder than us to win rallies and, at some point, our bad luck is going to turn around."
Event data:
Round: 2/7, FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship
Based: Makubetsu, Tokachi
Stages: 18
Liaison distance: 722.67km
Competitive distance: 220.97km
Total distance: 946.49km
Conditions: 15 degrees, overcast
Day one leader: Toshi Arai (J) Subaru
Winner: Toshi Arai (J) Subaru
Excellent Proton debut for Tom Cave on home soil
Teenage rally driver Tom Cave enjoyed an excellent first outing in his Proton Satria Neo Super2000 this weekend on the Plains Rally, the fourth round of the BTRDA series. The 18 year-old was competing in a four-wheel drive car for the first time and was delighted to set a string of top five stage times, finish sixth overall and second in class N4.
After several tests in the Proton, Tom knew that the only way to gauge the work so far was to actually compete and the Plains Rally, run close to his home in Aberdyfi, is renowned as one of the best in the series.
He and stand-in co-driver Shaun O’Gorman started very well but the early promise was to be hindered slightly, as he was held up on the first stage of the event for 20 seconds by a car ahead which had spun and was finding it difficult to clear the road. As it transpired, this time loss would prove decisive in the final result.
The second stage went well while the youngster found the third, the Pantperthog test, was trickier than expected and he was only ninth fastest.
The team made several set-up changes to the car at the first service, including adjustments to the ride height and damper settings and the benefits were immediately clear, as Tom was fifth-fastest on the following Hafren test.
He improved his pace, setting the third-fastest time on the second run of Gartheiniog and fourth-fastest on Cwmcelli, which saw lots of loose gravel on the surface.
However, it was the final stage of the event where he shone, setting the second-fastest time outright, behind only the fearsome Peugeot-Cosworth of Andy Burton and beating World Rally Cars in the process.
Tom picked up an erroneous two-minute penalty early in the event, when he was given an incorrect time but O’Gorman dealt with the problem quickly and efficiently.
By the time the crew arrived at the finish ramp, they were sixth overall and second in class N4, by just 15 seconds, Therefore, without the time loss on the first stage when they were held up, Tom predicts he could have won the class and finished certainly fifth, potentially fourth overall, a remarkable achievement for the youngster in his 4WD competition debut.
Commenting after the event, Tom said; “What a fantastic way to start with the Proton. This was an amazing event and I’m absolutely delighted with the result. Of course, I’m also a little gutted that it could possibly have been better had we not been held up on the first stage but the pace and potential of the car are clear for all to see.
“I think there are so many positives to take away from this weekend. The pace of the car was spot-on, I felt very at-home with it and while I’m understanding how to get the best from it all the time, I’m very pleased that we were able to show good pace at this early stage. The Davies Motorsport team worked very well, as did Shaun, who not only delivered the notes perfectly, also dealt with the rogue penalty very quickly and perhaps most importantly, the Proton ran faultlessly all day.
“This has given me a huge confidence boost for the next event. Up until this weekend, the Proton in competition was a complete unknown for me. The testing we have done has gone well but you never know how well until you actually compete and it looks like we have been heading in the right direction."
“I realise that there is still a huge amount to learn, both about the car, how to drive it and how to adapt to varying conditions but I feel much more confident about tackling three-day events after a result like this.”
Tom’s next event will be the Severn Valley Stages, based in Builth Wells over the weekend of 3-6 June. He has opted to contest this event instead of Rally d’Italia to gain more experience of the Proton before joining the Intercontinental Rally Challenge on Rally Ypres at the end of June.
PROTON to start IRC campaign on Geko Ypres Rally
PROTON R3 Rally Team news
May 19, 2010
The PROTON R3 Rally Team will start its Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign on next month’s Geko Ypres Rally.
The British-based MEM team which prepares and runs the official Satria Neo S2000s will send two cars to the classic two-day Belgian event which is rated as one of the best asphalt rallies in the world. The PROTON R3 Rally Team line up for its first IRC appearance of the year will remain the same as for this year’s FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship: Scotsman Alister McRae and Australian Chris Atkinson.
The PROTON R3 Rally Team is currently in Japan preparing for the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, Rally Hokkaido, which gets underway on Friday evening.
McRae contested the final round of last year’s IRC series with PROTON, collecting the team’s best result so far by finishing second overall on the Rally of Scotland after a trouble-free run in the Satria Neo S2000.
Quotes:
Alister McRae said:
“Ypres is an exceptional event. The stages are legendary in Europe and it has to be one of the best-supported rallies in the world; the locals are all really big fans of the sport - it’s always a great atmosphere. The roads in Belgium can be really difficult, though. There are some big ditches at the side of the road which seem to be able to swallow a car whole! The other factor on the Ypres Rally is the weather, it can be prone to changing very quickly - coming from Scotland I’m pretty well used to that! Starting out IRC campaign in Ypres is good news, it’s a very high-profile event and, coming a little bit later next month, it will give us the opportunity to get some asphalt testing in with the Satria Neo S2000.”
Chris Mellors (team principal) said:
“It’s no secret that we had looked at starting our IRC programme in Sardinia, but we’ve decided to go for Ypres instead. If we had gone to Olbia with the car, it would have seriously restricted the amount of asphalt testing we’d have been able to do with the car before Belgium. Having seen the way we’ve been able to develop the car on the gravel with the extra loose-surface testing over the winter, we felt it made more sense to focus on preparing the cars and drivers for Ypres, which is undoubtedly one of the classic European events. The focus of this season is the Asia Pacific Rally Championship and, after leading and running so well last time out in Malaysia, we’re looking for a win in Japan this week. At the same time, the IRC is probably the most competitive series in the world for Super 2000 cars and by extension a great place to show the pace of the PROTON - and that’s what we’ll be doing in Ypres and on a programme of events later in the season.”
Rally Hokkaido preview
May 17, 2010
The PROTON R3 Rally Team has arrived in Japan for the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship – Rally Hokkaido – which starts from Makubetsu on Friday (May 21) evening.
After stunning the opposition with a string of fastest times and the rally lead on last month’s opening round in Malaysia, PROTON drivers Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson have vowed to come back even harder on this week’s second event in the of the seven-round series.
McRae, co-driven by Australian Bill Hayes, led the event with a brilliant drive in some of the hottest conditions he has ever had to cope with. McRae’s supreme fitness endured this stern test and, just as he his lead was beginning to look comfortable, his Satria Neo S2000 suffered a minor engine fault. Atkinson ended his debut event for the PROTON R3 Rally Team fourth in the championship standings after an extremely promising start. After the tight, twisty and technical stages in Malaysia, both men are ready to let the MEM-built PROTON fly on the sweeping gravel roads of Japan’s northernmost island.
PROTON is no stranger to success at the highest level of global motorsport, having won the 2002 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship.
Rally Hokkaido is one of the most popular rounds of the APRC. It’s not hard to see why. The local population of Makubetsu and Obihiro, the areas of Japan’s Tokachi region where the rally runs, turn out in force to celebrate and support the rally’s arrival, turning this event into a noisy and colourful carnival of motorsport. Such is the popularity of the sport in this region, a 50,000-strong crowd for the ceremonial start is a regular occurrence.
Tokachi is known for extreme temperatures, with an annual temperature range of 60 degrees Celsius. The record low winter temperature for the area is -38.2 degrees, while the opposite end of the scale is a July high of 37.8 degrees. The average for this time of the year is around 18 degrees with rain possible.
The stages on the event run to the north-west of Makubetsu, except the exceptionally popular Obihiro spectator stage next to the Kita Aikoku service park. This 1.20-kilometer test opens proceedings one hour after the ceremonial start on Friday evening and then runs a further three times during the rally.
After such a strong start in Malaysia, all eyes will be on former British Rally Champion McRae in Japan, but the Scotsman, who now lives in Western Australia, admits his fellow PROTON driver Chris Atkinson is likely to be right up there setting the pace with him on Rally Hokkaido.
Atkinson, co-driven by Belgian Stephane Prevot, has a strong record in Japan. On his first trip to the World Rally Championship qualifier which also ran across these roads, he won his class by an astonishing 10 minutes in 2004. Twelve months on from that result and Atkinson was celebrating his first ever WRC podium, taking third place for the official Subaru team. Atkinson then collected two fourth positions in the next three editions of the event.
McRae and Atkinson will test the Satria Neo S2000 in Japan on Wednesday afternoon, before conducting a two-day recce of the route on Thursday and Friday morning.
Quotes:
Alister McRae said:
“I have never competed in Japan before, so I’ve only got a rough idea of what to expect. I’ve watched some footage from Rally Japan and a lot of the in-car, so this gives you a good flavour of the stages to come. They look quite fast in places, but really narrow as well. They don’t seem to flow too much. I would say the key to this event is going to be getting an accurate set of notes from the recce. The big thing for us in Japan is that this event really should suit the car more than Malaysia did – and we led that rally, which shows the pace we’ve got in the PROTON. The one thing we shouldn’t have in Japan is the same kind of fierce heat we felt in Malaysia, which will make the car much more comfortable. I think our big competition here is going to be Katsu Taguchi. He won the opening round in Malaysia and, this being his local event, he’s done it a great number of times. The result we’re after for PROTON is two podiums, with Chris [Atkinson, team-mate] or myself on the top step.”
Chris Atkinson said:
“I’ve got fond memories of Japan; it’s the place where I scored my first podium, taking third place on my first visit there in the Impreza WRC in 2005. The stages are good. They’re fast and smooth in places, but they are quite technical. There’s a lot of the road running under the trees which can make it hard to see the precise line you want to take through the corner. You do need very accurate pace notes on this event. The last rally in Malaysia was my first real time in the car and, as such, I was still getting used to my new surroundings. In Japan this week, I’ll be more used to the car and I’ll be looking to push harder and see what we can do. The PROTON felt fantastic last time out – and that was on stages which didn’t really suit the Super 2000 car – so I can’t wait to get it into Japan to see what we can do. I’ve always like rallying in this part of the world. The people are all really enthusiastic towards the sport and friendly and the food is fantastic. All in all, I’m really looking forward to Rally Hokkaido and, most of all, to getting the result which everybody at PROTON and MEM deserve.”
Chris Mellors (team principal) said:
“We’re looking forward to a good weekend in Japan. We’ve done some more work with the car since the opening round in Malaysia and we’ve made some more good steps. Alister’s pace in Malaysia was fantastic and we’re looking forward to more of the same this week. Chris is getting quicker and quicker in the car all the time. It’s easy to forget Malaysia was literally his first real mileage in the PROTON. I’d expect him to be right up there at the sharp end in Japan, given that he has such a strong record on this event. Every kilometer Chris does in the car is levelling his learning curve. I think we have the makings of a good result in Hokkaido, but at the same time we have to remember there’s going to be some strong competition there, not only from the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, but also from the local drivers who know this event well.”
Event data:
Round: 2/7, FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship
Based: Makubetsu, Hokkaido
Stages: 18
Liaison distance: 722.67km
Competitive distance: 220.97km
Total distance: 946.49km
Shakedown: Obihiro superspecial (Friday May 21, 1200-1300)
Pre-event press conference: Hotel Grand Vrio (Friday May 21, 1500)
Post-event press conference: Hotel Grand Vrio (Sunday May 23, 1740)
Time difference: Malaysia is GMT+9hrs
Event timetable:
Friday May 21
Ceremonial start – Kita Aikoku 1800
SS1 Obihiro 1 (1.20km) 1900
Saturday May 22
SS2 Sipirkakim Reverse 1 (25.12km) 0805
SS3 Kunneywa Reverse 1 (25.25lkm) 0838
SS4 Rikubetsu 1 (2.73km) 0925
Service – Rikubetsu 0930
SS5 Sipirkakim Reverse 2 (25.12km) 1113
SS6 Kunneywa Reverse 2 (25.25lkm) 1146
SS7 Rikubetsu 2 (2.73km) 1233
Service – Rikubetsu 1238
SS8 Sipirkakim Reverse 1 (25.12km) 1421
SS9 Kunneywa Reverse 1 (25.25lkm) 1454
SS10 Obihiro 2 (1.20km) 1807
SS11 Obihiro 3 (1.20km) 1816
Service – Kita Aikoku 1821
Sunday May 23
SS12 Otofuke 1 (6.29km) 0632
SS13 Ashoro 1 (12.73km) 0757
SS14 Honbetsu 1 (10.78km) 0901
SS15 Otofuke 2 (6.29km) 0952
Service – Kita Aikoku 1037
SS16 Ashoro 2 (12.73km) 1325
SS17 Honbetsu 2 (10.78km) 1429
SS18 Obihiro 4 (1.20km) 1555
Finish – Kita Aikoku 1630
Malaysian Rally review
April 25, 2010
The PROTON R3 Rally Team gave the thousands of Malaysian rally fans plenty to cheer about on this weekend’s Malaysian Rally, which finished in Johor this afternoon. Both Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson set fastest times in their Satria Neo S2000s, with McRae just missing out on victory in some of the toughest conditions ever. Atkinson ended the event just off the podium in fourth place.
Despite never having competed on the opening round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship before, Alister gave PROTON the dream start to the nation’s biggest car rally by leading the event after the opening stage. The Scotsman remained at the sharp end of the leaderboard throughout Saturday and moved back into the lead with another fastest time on SS6. From then on, despite torrential rain and soaring temperatures, McRae controlled the event from the front.
After leading overnight, the former British Rally Champion further extended his advantage on the opening two stages this morning, looking comfortable and apparently guiding his PROTON towards victory in Malaysia. Unfortunately for McRae and co-driver Bill Hayes, an engine problem at the start of today’s third stage meant they would go no further. Massively disappointed, McRae refused to be downbeat about the event and feels the Malaysian Rally has marked the PROTON out as the car to beat in this year’s APRC series.
McRae’s team-mate Atkinson showed similar commitment and speed in the sister Satria. Despite never having competed in a Super 2000 car before, the Queenslander and his co-driver Stephane Prevot were soon up to speed: they collected their first fastest time for PROTON on the fifth test. More was to come from Chris as he maintained that top-of-the-table pace until the end of the day.
Unfortunately for Atkinson, he’d suffered an electrical problem with the car on Saturday’s opening test, which left him playing catch up for the remainder of the day. Chris recovered to fourth place, collecting valuable APRC points for both himself and PROTON. McRae collected three points for being the fastest driver through the opening day.
Like McRae, this was a new event for Atkinson, but the next round (Rally Hokkaido, Japan – May 22/23) is more familiar territory for the Australian star and he’s heading to the APRC’s northernmost event determined to put his PROTON on the top step of the podium.
Quotes:
Alister McRae said:
“I don’t think I have ever seen so much enthusiasm for a rally programme as I saw in Malaysia in the run up to last week’s event. It was incredible. There was so much support from the PROTON factory, the Malaysian government and all the people out there. It was a genuine honour to be driving the car on PROTON’s home event. And even better, we were setting the pace and leading the rally. I really thought we were heading for that dream result; PROTON and the MEM team deserved to win the Malaysian Rally. The car was sensational, a real credit to all the boys at MEM who have worked tirelessly through the winter to make the Satria Neo S2000 the quickest car in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. We had a small problem with the fan on the engine yesterday [Saturday], but it’s testament to the engine that, even in the harshest and hottest conditions I’ve ever competed in, this engine just kept on running. Maybe the problem we had on the third stage today [Sunday] was related to that. The conditions really were that tough. I’m a Scot, so I’m used to torrential rain – but it’s usually 35 degrees cooler when it’s raining where I come from! There are so many positives to take away from Malaysia, it’s just made me more excited about the season to come. The APRC title is there for us to win and we’ll be back on track in Japan next month.”
Chris Atkinson said:
“I can’t tell you how good it is to be back in a rally car again! And what a rally car! The Satria is amazing, a real driver’s car. I hadn’t done much testing before the start of the event and I’d been away from racing for a year and a half, so it was fantastic to get to shakedown and get through some corners. Shakedown was good for us, it started dry and then poured with rain, so we got a good idea of what the car was going to do in both conditions. We had an electrical problem on the first stage which was a bit of a blow, but we were bang on it for the next one. This event was about getting a result for PROTON, once we’d lost our chance of winning, so I was driving with that in the back of my mind. The conditions were hard going on this event. I remember doing the Jordan Rally at 45 degrees and thinking that was tough, but this was much harder than that. The good thing about the Satria is that you really have to work at it to get the best out of it, which is fantastic, but maybe not quite so fantastic when it’s so hot and humid in the car! As you progressed through the stage, you could feel the heat soaking into you, but there was nothing to do. The iced towels at the end of each stage have never felt so good! There’s definitely more to come from me and the PROTON, but I’m massively encouraged at the start we’ve made in Malaysia. Okay, the result isn’t what we wanted, but I’m rallying again and soon we’ll be winning again. One more thing, I want to say a big thank you to Chris and the guys at MEM for the work they did, the car was awesome, and to everybody at PROTON. There was a real buzz about the factory in Malaysia and it’s going to be a special feeling for us all when we turn this potential into rally wins.”
Chris Mellors (team principal) said:
“The car and the drivers both showed great speed and commitment on this rally. As we expected, the conditions were really tough – with temperatures running above 40 degrees, but the guys got on with the job. We set plenty of fastest times, but that win just eluded us. It’s disappointing, bitterly disappointing, we badly wanted this win, but the perfect story for PROTON wasn’t to be. However, what we did this weekend was show just what a fantastic car we have with the Satria – and what a great pair of drivers. Alister had the event under control, he was managing a good lead this morning when the engine problem occurred at the start line of the third stage. And Chris showed just what he was capable of with fastest times and a great drive on his first outing in the car. Chris would certainly have been challenging for the victory had it not been for his electrical problem on the first stage. Now, we move on and we prepare for round two, where PROTON will be hungrier than ever for victory.”
Event data:
Round: 1/7, FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship
Based: Kota Tinggi, Johor
Stages: 16
Liaison distance: 353.14km
Competitive distance: 236.42km
Total distance: 589.56km
Conditions: 40 degrees, overcast and heavy rain
Day one leader: Alister McRae (GB) PROTON
Winner: Katsu Taguchi (J) Mitsubishi
Next event:
Rally Hokkaido, Japan (May 22/23)
Based in Makubetsu on Hokkaido, the most northerly of Japan’s islands, the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship is quite a different event from the opener. The stages are generally faster than the tight and twisty tests used in Malaysia this weekend. The temperature will be lower and the road surface more akin to a European forest rally. Chris Atkinson has driven on these roads previously, contesting the event when it ran as Japan’s round of the World Rally Championship, but Alister McRae has never competed in Hokkaido before.
Malaysian Rally preview
April 19, 2010
PROTON R3 Rally Team Satria Neo S2000 driver Chris Atkinson starts this week’s Malaysian Rally (April 23-25) as the top seed on the opening round of this year’s FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
The Johor-based event, which gets underway with a ceremonial start tonight (Friday), signals the beginning of PROTON’s season-long challenge for the Asia Pacific title, which the Malaysian manufacturer last won in 2004.
Joining Atkinson and his co-driver Stephane Prevot in Proton’s two-pronged attack on the APRC are Alister McRae and Bill Hayes, who start the two-day event at number three in their Satria.
Fans of rallying across the world will need no introduction to PROTON’s two megastar drivers. Atkinson finished fifth in the 2008 World Rally Championship with the Subaru World Rally Team, while former British Rally Champion Alister McRae was a WRC regular with the Hyundai and Mitsubishi factory teams. Both drivers are from the Asia Pacific region, with Atkinson a native Queenslander and
McRae, originally from Scotland, now living in Perth, Western Australia.
The PROTON Satria Neo S2000s Atkinson and McRae will use in Malaysia have made the longest trip east, coming from the British base of world title-winning preparation firm MEM. The Satria is a two-litre, naturally aspirated, rally-bred machine. The engine produces close to 300bhp, while the four-wheel drive transmission offers total traction from its highly developed drivetrain.
Neither McRae nor Atkinson have contested the Malaysian Rally previously, but both have experience of rallying in the Far East. The conditions are expected to be hot and humid on this opening APRC round – with rain anticipated at some stage on Saturday or Sunday. The roads used in competition have a clay base, which means they will become treacherously slippery when the rain arrives. The teams will cut blocks of tread out of the tyres in an effort to get the mud out of the tyre. Cutting the tyres might improve grip, but the flip side of that coin is that the more the tyre is cut, the less rigidity it maintains when it heats up. Getting this complicated compromise right is one of the key elements to stacking up a big score on round one of the APRC.
Quotes:
Chris Atkinson said:
“I’m so excited about joining Proton for this year’s FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship and it’s going to be a fantastic season in the Satria Neo S2000. We did a test in the car earlier this week and we’ll obviously complete some set-up work on the car at the pre-event shakedown. It’s a great honour for me to start as the number one car – but the most important thing is to make sure we are still in the number one position when it comes to Sunday afternoon. Not competing for a while has made me really hungry to get back out there and onto the stages. I haven’t done this event before, but I have competed in Asia – when I did the Asia Pacific Rally Championship in 2003 and 2004, so I have a good idea of what to expect from the heat and the conditions. It’s going to be tough, but Stephane [Prevot, co-driver] and I are more than ready for the challenge ahead – and we know the Proton is up to the job.”
Alister McRae said:
“I did three rallies in the PROTON Satria Neo S2000 at the end of last season and, straight away, I knew the car was competitive. Now we have a whole year of competition ahead of us, it’s going to be great. I’ve spent much of the winter season training for the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship; my co-driver Bill Hayes is a semi-professional cyclist, so we’ve been doing loads of work on the bike. I’m in better shape now than I have ever been throughout my career, so I’m not concerned about the hot conditions we’re going to face in Malaysia this week. I think we’re probably in for some rain on the event, which will make the roads really slippery. One of the key elements to success on this event will be getting the tyres right. We don’t just need to make the right selection of tyre, we need to make sure we have made the right cut into the tyres. I’m really looking forward to working with PROTON, MEM and Chris [Atkinson] this season.”
Event data:
Round: 1/7, FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship
Based: Kota Tinggi, Johor
Stages: 16
Liaison distance: 353.14km
Competitive distance: 236.42km
Total distance: 589.56km
Shakedown: Tai Tak Plantations (Thursday April 22, 1400-1700)
Pre-event press conference: Grand Paragon Hotel (Friday April 23, 1500)
Post-event press conference: Grand Paragon Hotel (Sunday April 25, 1700)
Time difference: Malaysia is GMT+8hrs
Event timetable:
Friday April 23
Ceremonial start: Angsana Shopping Complex, 2100
Saturday April 24
SS1 Tai Tak – Tunnel Left (14.62km) 0808hrs
SS2 Tai Tak – Tunnel Right (19.41km) 0834
SS3 Tai Tak – Pipeline (24.25km) 0917
SS4 Tai Tak – Fish Pond (17.69km) 0953
Service – Angsana Shopping Complex 1118
SS5 Tai Tak – Tunnel Left (14.62km) 1311
SS6 Tai Tak – Tunnel Right (19.41km) 1337
SS7 Tai Tak – Pipeline (24.25km) 1420
SS8 Tai Tak – Fish Pond (17.69km) 1456
Service – Angsana Shopping Complex 1621
Sunday April 25
SS9 Tai Tak – Saujana (5.54km) 0746hrs
SS10 Tai Tak – Court House (10.95km) 0814
SS11 Tai Tak – Lukut (11.49km) 0837
SS12 Tai Tak – Mawai (14.26km) 0902
Service – Angsana Shopping Complex 1032
SS13 Tai Tak – Saujana (5.54km) 1220
SS14 Tai Tak – Court House (10.95km) 1248
SS15 Tai Tak – Lukut (11.49km) 1311
SS16 Tai Tak – Mawai (14.26km) 1336
Finish – Angsana Shopping Complex 1600
2010 Preview
The time between the end of last season and the beginning of the 2010 season will provide MEM with valuable breathing space in which to continue the ongoing technical design and development of the Proton S2000 car. Proton, as a manufacturer, has demonstrated their intention to continue with the S2000 Programme during 2010 and beyond. MEM has an exciting programme with a two car team in both APRC and IRC and is looking forward to a continued programme of development with Proton’s valuable support.
MEM are also intending to secure the continued services of Alister McRae following our successful team partnership last year. Confirmation, and further details will be posted soon.
MEM Proton Team tests for 2010
The MEM Proton Team continued its preparations for the 2010 season by putting three leading drivers through their paces during a test in Wales recently.
Finns Anton Alen and Matti Rantanen, together with Belgian Francois Duval drove a Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 at the Sweet Lamb chop test facility in mid-Wales.
Chris Mellors, who runs MEM, the factory Proton team, said: “We had three great drivers who gave us some very positive and valuable feedback. From our point of view one of the most encouraging things is that we put the equivalent of a world championship rally distance on the car during the 2 day 350km test, without having to do any work to it.” As part of the ongoing development of the car, the visit to Sweet Lamb was primarily for engine and transmission testing and evaluation.
Alen, who is considering Proton as one of his options for next season’s IRC, said: “The car felt very stable and the engine had a really good spread of torque right from the bottom all the way to the top.”
Unfortunately, a couple of days after the test, Duval slipped on some ice at home in Belgium, and broke two vertebrae in his back. He is expected to recover fully, but will be out of action for at least eight weeks. The Team wish him a speedy recovery.
MEM Proton S2000 2009 Season Review
During 2009, the development of the Proton S2000 car continued with a programme of events, designed to provide MEM with the best possible feedback.
The core of the programme was to be the entry of seven rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) beginning with Rally Ypres in June which saw Driver Guy Wilks set several competitive stage times before ending the rally after leaving the road.
The following event in July, Rally Russia proved to be much more successful with the crew securing a very commendable fourth place overall on the first of the IRC gravel events we entered during the year.
Late July saw the team travel to Madeira for what was to be a very competitive tarmac round of the IRC. Guy Wilks and Co-driver Phil Pugh managed to finish the event in 10th overall place after a trouble free weekend. Unfortunately, the team did not complete the next event, Rally Barum, after experiencing engine failure as a result of a software problem. Both cars were withdrawn after the first stage to prevent further damage before the problem was resolved.
The first of the two September events was Rally Asturias in Northern Spain. Again, the crew posted several competitive stage times climbing up to 5th overall at one stage before accidentally leaving the road dropped them down the list of finishers. Italy hosted the following event in San Remo which again proved to be a very competitive event with Kris Meeke securing the Championship Title for 2009. Guy and Phil finished 11th overall with the car making another trouble free run. Following the event, Guy and MEM decided amicably, to go separate ways with Guy chasing a drive with another manufacturer, and MEM securing the driving services of Alister McRae.
The final event of the season welcomed McRae back to his homeland as Rally Scotland hosted it’s first IRC round during November. Despite the weather taking a turn for the worst, Alister drove the Proton S2000 car to an eventual 2nd place overall delighting the fans, and providing an excellent finish to the year’s development programme.
MEM and Guy Wilks would like to thank all those involved in trying to stop the flames that engulfed the Proton S2000 car at the weekend.
Report to follow.
Pirelli rally 2009
Pirelli rally 2009
Pirelli rally 2009
As part of the ongoing development of the Proton Super 2000,
a car was entered in this year’s Rally Ireland driven by former
PWRC champion Niall McShea.
A stunning start for the Proton Satria - 3rd after first stage.
The car caused quite a stir by taking an unbelievable 3rd fastest time
on stage one, ahead of WRC champion Sebastian Loeb in the
Citroen C4. As a result of the adverse weather conditions, a minor electrical fault caused the car to retire on day one, but only after securing 5th place overall on stage 2.
Weather conditions took a turn for the worst by the end of the first day.
After replacing the faulty component, Niall rejoined the rally under super rally rules on day two. Car and driver continued to take top
ten stage times dispelling the rumour that a Super 2000 car would
not be competitive at the top level. Despite retiring from the rally on Stage 14 after leaving the road as a result of standing water, Niall
was convinced there was much more to come from the car.
Although finishing the rally proved illusive, the Proton Super 2000’s pace could conceivably have resulted in a top 6 place overall. Having proved competitive against turbocharged WRC cars, MEM are
convinced the Proton has a very promising future at the forefront of world rallying
Autosport show, NEC Birmingham - 8th - 11th January 2009
The MEM Proton stand at this year’s Autosport Show attracted many visitors during the four opening days. Two Proton Super 2000 cars were on display together with several Proton Satria Neo production cars kindly supplied by Proton UK.
On the opening day, Datuk Razak Dawood announced the official support of the Super 2000 project on behalf of Proton Malaysia. In addition to attracting admiring glances, the Proton Super 2000 car generated considerable interest from both potential customers and the world’s media during the two trade days.
The stand continued to attract attention during the weekend when the general public were given the opportunity to see the motorsport industy showcasing their products.
Despite withdrawing from the rally on day 3, the MEM Proton Satria Neo S2000 car met with an enthusiastic response from both the rally fraternity and rally fans alike.
After pre event testing on Thursday, driver Bryan Bouffier continued to express his confidence in the car, and its ability to be competitive. Day 1 of the rally saw Bryan and co-driver Xavier Panseri in 6th place overall, despite collecting time penalties as a result of teething problems during the day. At the start of the second day, the team decided to address these problems with the aim of rejoining on the 3rd day. However, as day 3 arrived, the decision was made to withdraw from the rally in order to concentrate on the issues fully.
Having considered the event to be a further part of the testing programme, MEM was not surprised to experience some problems with the car which would be addressed during final development.
Bryan Bouffier to pilot the Satria Neo this weekend...
Following a successful programme of testing in the Ardeche region of France, the MEM Proton Super 2000 car will make its competition debut this weekend on the 43rd Rally d’Antibes.
Click here for the ERC rally website
Starting from Antibes on the French Cote dAzur, the rally is the last asphalt event of the European Championship. The race has been run on the European calendar since 1972, taking place between the 17th and 19th of October. Being an asphalt event, the rally will feature three days of demanding stages in the French Alps.
The car will be driven by French driver Bryan Bouffier, with co driver Xavier Panseri, following their recent success in securing a second successive Polish Rally Championship. Both Bryan and the MEM team considered the event to be the ideal opportunity to evaluate the car under competitive conditions.
Click here for Bryan's website
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