After dominating almost every round in the 2015 Malaysia championship Series, Proton R3 team is back with a brand new surprise. Joining them this time on the circuit was the Prince of Drift himself, Tengku Djan Ley, driving one of the much awaited race car of the year; the all-new Iriz R3 race car.
Sharing with us some of the finer details of the car, Djan revealed to us that the development of the Iriz R3 took them about six months and is the first torsion beam rear axle setup car they worked on, compared to the days of cars like Waja and Gen2 which were a multilink rear axle MacPherson front strut.
“It is not ideal, we know where our weak points are, that’s why we want to come out this weekend. Sometimes when we do testing in a controlled environment, it is very different from the actual real-time driving. So that’s why we decided to take it out for this round,” said Djan.
So how did they real-world test go on the fourth round of the 2015 MCS? Djan was basically untouchable even from his own teammates where he led the race from the start all the way to the finish line for MTC. “I was surprised that the Iriz managed to pull quite a gap out of it. I think the advantage comes from the slightly shorter wheelbase, the car’s a bit more nimble,” he added.
But Djan also shared with us that this is not the final form of the Iriz R3 as there is still a lot to be worked on with to fully prepare the car for its ultimate showdown this year; the Sepang 1000KM Endurance Race.
In the Suprima S, Fariqe Hairuman was tasked to start the race where he will then pass the wheel to James Veerapen in the later part of the race. Though making a mistake at the start where he was warming up the tires, Fariqe immediately sprang into action and reclaimed second position after Turn 2. Creating a gap from the others chasing a couple of laps into the race, Fariqe then toned down to bring the car safely for James to drive to the end of the race.
Since Fariqe had built quite a gap, James had no major threat coming from behind. Though it was quite a straight forward drive home, James drove the car at a slower pace to bring the car safely through the chequered flag and claim a second place finish for Proton R3 in the MTC.
It could have been an exciting 1-2-3 place finish for them, but unfortunately Syafiq Ali was forced to retire halfway into the race as his Preve encountered some engine problems and was unable to finish the race.
