Proton goes down fighting in New Caledonia
The Proton rally team was denied a winning return at Rally New Caledonia last weekend after being denied by a series of misfortunes that befell its drivers Alister McRae and PG Andersson. Despite a bright start, the team was forced to concede its lead going into the second day, with Alister McRae forced into retiring as early as the second special stage.
Having won last year’s installment, the Proton team went into the rally with brimming with confidence, but was ultimately denied by Gaurav Gill, who won the rally ahead of former Proton boy Chris Atkinson, both of them driving Skoda Fabia S2000 cars operated by Team MRF. In third place was Brian Greene in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.
Andersson led the rally on its opening day, blitzing three of the opening four special stages with the fastest times. Things went down hill for him on the second day after his Satria Neo S2000 experienced an abrupt loss of power in a water crossing, causing him to lose 14 minutes of time and drop to fourth in the APRC category.
“Everything was going really well and we were maintaining a good pace at the front of the pack. Something must have happened during one of the many water crossings and we lost a lot of power after that,” said Andersson at the end of the second day.
Things were even worse for team mate Alister McRae, who damaged his car in the second special stage, and was only allowed to return to action on the final day under the Super Rally format. The Scotsman nevertheless made the most of his remaining available time out, salvaging seven points from what could have been described as a disastrous position.
Andersson went out in the third day seeking to rescue what he could in the last six special stages, but further mechanical problems hampered his progress.
“We had hoped for a repeat of last year’s double podium results in New Caledonia but the reality of rallying is such that all the hard work and preparation is never a guarantee of a strong finish,” said Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, the Head of Proton Motorsports.
Pictures: Official Proton release.
