Proton to use national rally for Ypres trial

Proton R3 Rally Team drivers Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae will start the Geko Ypres Rally later this month fresh from an appearance on a national event in Belgium.

They will enter Rallye de la Haute Senne, an asphalt rally south-west of the capital Brussels on June 20, to prepare for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge round, which gets underway four days later.

Neither Atkinson nor McRae have driven the Proton Satria Neo S2000 on Tarmac before and Scot McRae said the practice rally would provide the perfect opportunity to prepare for his first start of the IRC season.

“It’s great to be getting the chance to drive in Belgium so close to the event itself,” said McRae, who claimed a podium finish on his IRC debut on Rally of Scotland last November. “Testing is great, but it’s on the stages where you actually find out a great deal about the car and how it works. This is a big boost for our preparations.”