The Malaysian leg of the 2011 Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) gets underway this weekend and Proton is aiming for a strong showing there to gain a firm foothold for the rest of their 2011 APRC campaign.
Proton will be fielding two Satria Neo S2000 rally cars at the Rally of Malaysia over the weekend of 1-3 April with former World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson behind the wheel.
The team’s campaign was officially launched today with guest of honour Deputy Minister of Tourism Yang Berhormat Datuk Dr. James Dawos Mamit handing over a national flag to the team members.
“Beyond conventional marketing, motorsports provides car manufacturers like Proton what can be defined as emotional leverage, first attracting fans, enticing them to learn more of the brand and product, establishing brand following, and hopefully translating into ownership desire and later brand loyalty,” said Proton Holdings Berhad Group Managing Director Datuk Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir.
The Satria Neo S2000 rally car has benefitted from an entire year of testing and development that has seen some tremendous gain in terms of power, performance and reliability, according to Head of Proton Motorsports Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood.
“There is nothing more exciting than a home event, and with all the preparation and development we have undertaken, the team looks forward to a strong result at the Rally of Malaysia. Rallying on home ground is not going to be a walk in the park. On the contrary, it is often regarded as one of the most challenging and rough rallies on the APRC calendar,” he added.
There will also be a number of Group N Satria Neo 1600cc rally cars on the roster for the 2011 APRC season. The cars were jointly developed between Proton and renowned Japanese tuner Cusco, and will be sold to competitors in Japan competing in the both the APRC and Japanese Junior Rally Championship. In fact, the Proton Cusco Junior Team will be competing in four rounds of the APRC Junior Trophy with Akira Bamba piloting one of the cars.
Proton will be aiming to build on their best finish last season, a 1-2 victory at the China Rally. The team went on to finish second in the APRC Manufacturer’s Championship. The last time Proton won the APRC title was back in 2004, with another two championships back to back in 2001 and 2002.
Asia Pacific Rally Championship 2011 calendar:
1-3 April- Malaysia
13-15 May- Australia
17-19 June- Nouvelle Caledonie
15-17 July- New Zealand
30 September- 2 October- Japan
4-6 November- China
