Proton may not carry much motor sports heritage like the western giants, but the Malaysian automaker carries some motor sports DNA specially rallying in the Asia-Pacific region.









UK based company, Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM) with a proven track record in Motorsport preparation, recently announced that they have built a rally spec of Iriz R5 which will enter World Rally Championship in 2018. The Iriz R5 will be powered by Mitsubishi Evo X Mivec heart with displacement brought down to 1600cc, and will be paired with Xtrac transmission. It will also get Brembo brakes, Cosworth electronics and Reiger dampers.

During the announcement of Proton’s comeback to WRC, Chris Mellors, the main man behind MEM, said: “We started looking at this with Proton last year and straight away we were excited by what we saw with the road car. The size and shape of the Iriz is perfect for rallying. Everything is in the right place: the overall length of the car is shorter than the Satria, but the wheelbase is longer; the strut tops are in just the ideal place; there’s lots of frontal area which is great for cooling.”

If we look back, the previous Proton programme was grounded four years ago when production of the Satria Neo base car ceased. Back then MEM and Proton enjoyed some rallying success by claiming sever titles in Asia-Pacific series with the Satria.

The new Iriz R5, build by MEM intends on competing in both WRC2 and the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and is set for unveiling at next month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Image Credit: Chicane Media

Founder of Auto Rebellion | Guest writer for zerotohundred.com