Proton R3 Motorsports celebrated podium finishes across three countries in an epic weekend (14-16th September) which saw the Proton Satria Neo compete in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) in Britain, the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in Hokkaido, Japan, and Malaysian Super Series (MSS) at the Sepang International Circuit
It was a great outing for the Proton R3 CUSCO Rally Team in the APRC round of Rally of Hokkaido as they finished first, second and third in the 2WD category.
Malaysian rally legend and three-time overall champion Karamjit Singh continued his dominance by winning it outright despite a puncture, which cost him almost one and a half minutes. Pushing hard in his 2WD Proton Satria Neo Group N rally car, Karamjit clawed his way back to take victory and maximum points to extend his championship lead.
Karamjit’s Japanese teammate Akira Bamba also had much to celebrate, clinching his second consecutive APRC junior championship title after finishing first and second after his closest rival, Michael Young of New Zealand, crashed out in Leg 1.
Malaysian junior driver Kenneth Koh rounded off a perfect weekend for the team by finishing second in the Junior category and third in the 2WD.
Young Welshman Tom Cave clinched second place for Proton R3 Motorsports Rally Team in the SWRC round of Britain, in a Proton Satria Neo S2000. He drove a well-measured race in what was only his second outing this year for the team.
It was a far tougher weekend for SWRC leader P.G. Andersson, who had to retire in the first leg of the rally. He managed to put in some impressive stage times after restarting and took two stage wins to finish sixth. Andersson extended his lead by eight points with Hayden Paddon of New Zealand sharing second place with Irishman Craig Breen. The rally was won by Ford Fiesta S2000 driver Craig Breen with Yazeed Al-Rajhi third in another Ford.
At home, the Proton R3 race team of Syafiq Ali and James Veerapen clinched the Malaysian Super Series title at Sepang with one round to go in their Proton R3 Satria. James Veerapen was knocked off the track into the gravel by another competitor at turn 12 with 12 laps to go but returned to the race thanks to the quick action of the track marshals. Despite losing plenty of time in that incident, the team made a strong comeback to finish fourth and clinch the championship with an unassailable 70-point lead.
