The Proton Satria Neo S2000 managed to overcome the extreme conditions of the Geko Ypres Rally in Belgium under the Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC) to complete the demanding rally with P.G. Andersson coming home 19th among the 61 cars that managed to start the second day from the initial 124 cars that started the rally.
Treacherously wet, cold and slippery conditions saw a huge number of the drivers not make it to the starting grid for the second day. The 18-stage rally had attracted 31 S2000 spec cars although it was the Skoda and Peugeot entries that dominated.
Even local favourite Thierry Neuville bit the dust, failing to finish the first special stage. He opted to restart under the Super Rally format but even then had to retire on the first special stage of the second, and final, day. Skoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen fared worst, crashing out in the first corner of the first special stage on the first day. It was bitter luck for IRC favourite Jan Kopecky as well. He didn’t even make it to the starting grid following a crash during shakedown that injured his co-driver Petr Stary.
Lady luck was not smiling on the Proton duo as well with Andersson and Giandomenico Basso both coming to within nine seconds of the top 10 before being struck by misfortune.
Basso’s race came to an end after hitting a low brick wall that was obscured by tall grass in SS7. He was giving it all he had in an effort to make up the nine seconds gap to the top 10 but unfortunately he pushed a little too hard and hit the wall, sending the Satria Neo S2000 into a ditch.
All seemed not lost though as Andersson picked up the pace and moved up from 18th to 16th over the next two stages. By the time SS10 was flagged off, he was running in 12th and the moved up a spot to 11th, just 8.9-seconds off the top 10.
However, Andersson also overcooked it just 2km into the 10km final stage. The off-route excursion damaged the Satria Neo S2000’s left rear wheel but he managed to bring the car home to finish 19th, 24-seconds off the pace.
“Despite the misfortunes and missing out on a top 10 finish, we come away from what was clearly a very tough and treacherous rally, achieving tremendous progress in terms of the development of the Satria Neo S2000. Basso’s 11th placing on the first day and Andersson’s push from 19th to 11th on the final day of rallying clearly demonstrated the car’s potential and it gave us a real competitive assessment of where we are currently in terms of development and how much more we need to do in the IRC,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, Head of Proton Motorsports.
The winner of the rally was Freddy Loix, who was driving a Skoda Fabia S2000. Bryan Bouffier in a Peugeot 207 S2000 took second while Hans Weijs in a Fabia S2000 completed the podium.
