Proton Satria Neo S2000 second in Scottish Rally

Posted on December 03, 2009 06:22 AM

The Proton World Rally Team made Malaysia proud by scoring its first podium finish with a well-deserved second overall placing in the Rally of Scotland, the final round of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). The man who took the Satria Neo Super2000 to the impressive finish was Scottish hero Alister McRae who gave the thousands of local motorsports fans plenty to cheer about as he was given the honour of being the first car to start the Rally at the Historic Scone Palace in Perth, Scotland for the 1.5-km spectator stage.

After the ceremonial start, the rally headed into the nearby historic forest roads of Stirling, Perth, and Kinross. Torrential rain coupled with the narrow gravel roads made conditions extremely treacherous, presenting a huge challenge to all competitors.

The Rally of Scotland was only the third time McRae had driven the Proton S2000 in competition and despite his lack of regular top flight rallying this year, he was immediately on the pace with IRC rally regulars like Kris Meeke in a Peugeot 207 S2000 (the newly-crowned IRC champion) and Guy Wilks in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

"The chassis is one of the best I have ever driven,” said McRae. “There is definitely lots of potential in the car and I look forward to even more rallies in the Proton,” he added.

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The Satria Neo Super 2000 was built to conform to the latest FIA Super 2000 regulations for rally cars and homologated for competition at the end of 2008. Super 2000 is expected to be the future of World Rallying and designed to cut development time as well as reduce costs thereby being more attractive for manufacturers to participate.

The roadgoing Satria Neo lends itself to this role readily as its platform, which was designed together with Lotus, demonstrates excellent chassis and suspension dynamics coupled with a low silhouette contributing to a lowered centre of gravity, according to a team spokesman.

The Satria Neo S2000 has already been entered in over 15 rallies worldwide. Notable results include a third fastest stage time in the first round of the World Rally Championship in Ireland, and a fourth overall in IRC Rally Russia while regularly running in the top ten positions in all other competitions. In the IRC rankings, Proton did not finish high up mainly because it participated in only 6 of the 11 rounds and only had a single car, while other brands had many more cars taking part. But many observers see much potential in the car and 2010 should see it becoming more prominent as development work progresses further.

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