Proton R3 Set To Take Inaugural Sepang 1000Km Race

May 21, 2009 15:36 PM

Proton R3 Set To Take Inaugural Sepang 1000Km Race

By: Ramjit

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KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Bernama) -- Spurred by their victorious collaboration at the Sepang 12-hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race (MME) last year, Team Proton R3 and X1-R are joining forces again, this time at the inaugural Sepang 1000km Race to be held at the Sepang Circuit from June 4-6.

Team coordinator Najmi Razak said Proton R3 and X1-R would be using a Proton Neo R3 and Proton Gen2 R3 machines for the race.

"We are still finalising the drivers' list but they will be led by Malaysia's top saloon car driver and Proton R3 test driver Faidzil Alang for sure," he said in a statement here today.

Winner of the MME overall title in 2008 in a Proton R3 Lotus Exige 300RR with Tengku Djan Ley and Damien French of Australia, Faidzil won Class B last year in a Proton Neo R3, partnering former Proton Production Car Championship winner Mohd Hafizy Hafiz and Shafique Ali.

Najmi said the two race cars were being built fresh with last year's winning car being used for testing and reference.

"Basically, we have not done any major work for the Sepang 1000km race except for installing a newly developed Campro engine," he added.

While the engines are being installed with new components to increase performance by up to 15 per cent, Najmi said the other emphasis given in the cars' development was durability and reliability of the engines.

"The race will run about nine hours. So, it is vital to give confidence to the drivers to push hard throughout the race. No major changes on the chassis... just some small additional adjustments.

"The team is really looking forward for the battle as we are made to understand that all of the local drivers will be taking part, apart from the Australian and Singaporean drivers.

"We are ready for the challenge and are now working on improving further the pitstop routines and upgrading the pit equipment and tools," he said.

-- BERNAMA

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