Motorsport: Team PROTON R3 Finishes 1st and 2nd at the Sepang 1000KM Race

Team Proton R3 (R3) has won the Sepang 1000km (S1K) race for a third consecutive time. The 2019 Proton Iriz driven by Mitchell Cheah and Fariqe Hairuman took the first place and the 2019 Proton Saga driven by Syafiq Ali and Admi Shahrul came second making it a memorable one-two finish. It was a challenging race as there was a safety car period and then some bad weather making the 1000km race of 181 laps cut short to around 9 hours worth of racing instead of much longer.

As this is the third consecutive and fifth overall S1K victory for PROTON, they are the most successful manufacturer in the history of this endurance racing event. It goes to show that the Proton cars entered are a testament to the reliability, handling and performance as well as the skill, professionalism and teamwork of the team itself.

Team PROTON R3 had entered three cars, with the third car, a Proton Saga driven by an all lady team. They however managed seventh but the team comprised more of rookies than seasoned lady racers. Nurul Husna and Faye Kusairi were selected from the MSF-R3 Lady Drivers Search that gave aspiring lady racers a chance to compete in the S1K race. The lead driver for the team was Leona Chin, a seasoned veteran racer whom I consider as one of the regular blokes in Malaysian motorsport and one would have done well regardless of the level of competition she faces.

They were also handicapped by a technical issue during qualifying where they had to start from the 26 th spot on the grid. I think they showed amazing skill and determination as they actually carved their way up to seventh.  They could have actually done better if not for the penalty.

Dr. Li Chunrong, CEO of PROTON said that, “By winning the S1K for the fifth time in 11 editions, PROTON has proven its mastery of the event. A 1,000kn race requires speed as well as reliability and our models have both. What we learn in the heat of competition we then engineer in to our products to create better cars. The success of both the 2019 Iriz and 2019 Saga in motorsports helped boost the image of each model and as a result, Iriz sales have increased three-fold while the Saga has achieved over 35,000 bookings since its launch.” 

It does seem that PROTON are on a roll these days. Even winning in local races as well as proving their reliability in endurance racing. Good thing the current management of PROTON still believes in going racing as a means to prove their mettle.