Round 2 of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) moves to the Pacific island of New Caledonia this weekend, with PROTON returning not only to a Champion’s welcome but as clear favourites by virtue of having driven to a double podium finish in lst season's rally.
<!--more-->APRC champion Alister McRae and Swedish driver, PG Anderson will be leading Proton's charge. This will be Andersson's first time rallying around this particular island with the Satria Neo S2000.
Based in Noumea on Grande Terre, the largest island in New Caledonia, Rally New Caledonia moves through beautiful lush vegetation and farming plains, and will be contested over a competitive distance of 252.82km covering 19 special stages.
Day 1 of the rally which flags off on Friday consists of four special stages. On Saturday, the team will take on another nine special stages while the third and the final day of rallying will involve six special stages including the longest which is a 24.41km charge through Pirogues Almameto.
McRae will be starting the rally first, clearing the road for the other drivers behind him. e goes on to say that “Winning the championship last year means I am first on the road on all the rounds this year and that was quite a disadvantage on the first round in New Zealand, but I don’t think it will be so much in New Caledonia. The rain is likely to have washed away much of the loose gravel from the surface before we got there and it’s possible that running at the front might even give us a small advantage. We led this rally last season and it was definitely one that I enjoyed.”
Rally New Caledonia offers a good mix of terrain with really wide and fast road as well as twisty and tight sections which favours the Satria Neo S2000.
PROTON’s Andersson will certainly be out to clearly underline this point as he tries to make up for the disappointment which cost him an outright victory in the opening round of the championship in New Zealand last month. Comfortably setting fastest times en route to winning 11 of the 16 special stages in New Zealand, Andersson had experienced a puncture which cost him the victory.
“One thing for sure is that I’m starting this event as I start every event – to win. I have never been to this rally before, so it’s always exciting to try some new roads.”
Despite Andersson’s misfortunes in New Zealand, both he and the Satria Neo S2000 had clearly demonstrated incredible pace to bounce back from being one-and-a-half minute down to eventually finishing second place just 30 seconds shy of victory.
“The Satria Neo S2000 was clearly the fastest in New Zealand and what was equally exciting was the way Andersson came back into contention from his puncture. In doing this, we have demonstrated the Satria Neo S2000 is able to match the speeds of the likes of the Skoda and, with better luck, it should be able to spring some surprises in New Caledonia. As we progress and commit ourselves to be better, we are confident the team combination of Andersson and McRae will come through with a win in New Caledonia,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, the Head of PROTON Motorsports.
"The Satria Neo S2000, its performance and the team's strong fighting spirit have become an instrumental, visible and effective form of communicating not only PROTON's growing capabilities as a car company but in earning the company tremendous respect for being a competitive, determined, committed and highly motivated automotive player," said John Doody Chacko, PROTON's Director of Group Marketing, Branding and Motorsports.
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