PROTON eyes 2011 IRC campaign

The PROTON R3 Rally Team is aiming to return to next year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge running two Satria Neo S2000s.

The British-based team has only contested selected rounds of this year’s series, but team principal Chris Mellors said they were already looking at 2011.

“We’ve seen that the car has got tremendous potential,” said Mellors. “We know we’ve got some more work to do with the Satria, but we’re on that now – the main thing is that we have a very strong base chassis and engine. The IRC is where the main competition for Super 2000 is and that’s what we have to be looking at for next season.”

Mellors wouldn’t be drawn on a driver line-up, but Scotsman Alister McRae is believed to be one of the team’s favoured options.