PROTON out to capitalise on rally win in Ypres

The factory PROTON team will be looking to draw on the positives created by its victory on last week’s Asia Pacific championship round in New Caledonia when it resumes its bid for Intercontinental Rally Challenge success in Ypres this week.

PROTON will enter a brace of Satria Neo Super 2000s on the asphalt rally for PG Andersson and Giandomencio Basso.

Chris Mellors, the PROTON team head, said: “We’re looking to deliver on the promise we showed in Yalta; analysing the times, you can see that we’re right on the cusp with the car. We believe we have the right package to deliver a result in Ypres, we’ve certainly got the most talented drivers in PG and Giandomenico and we go to Belgium on the back of our second APRC win of the year."

Although neither Andersson nor Basso was competing in New Caledonia, a number of members of the Malaysian squad were on duty on the Pacific island. To get to Ypres on time, four team members flew from Noumea to Seoul in South Korea following the rally finish on Sunday where they boarded a second flight to Paris before hiring a car to drive to Ypres, arriving at 1800hrs local time on Monday. Two further members flew back to the UK, where the team is based, and joined up with the six other colleagues to drive to Ypres.