Now that the news has broken that Proton are to build a WRC car, who will be the drivers?
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Now that the news has broken that Proton are to build a WRC car, who will be the drivers?
It's an R5 car.
Wrc2....
One day after this thread was started, Proton finally announced that they have accepted Geely's takeover bid. Geely and PSA were the two auto manufacturers that had submitted detailed bids after five manufacturers had shown interest, earlier in the year. Geely will acquire 49.9% of Proton shares with remainder held by the Malaysian government.
So how will this affect the Iriz R5 project? Nobody I spoke with in Malaysia last month knows what will happen with Proton or Lotus models production, let alone any proposed motor sport programme. The above press release states confidently that the R5 car will be homologated by 1 January 2018. As that will require the manufacturer to sign- off on the project (and pay a large fee), I can only hope that Geely agreed to that as part of their takeover bid. The only info I know for sure is that the R5 engine passed FIA inspection for homologation in Malaysia last year. It is sourced from the Proton Inspira, which is a re-badged Mitsubishi Lancer. The crankshaft is the same as used in the Swedish MPart Mirage 'R5/AP4' cars.
The prototype Iriz at Mellors Motorsport in UK is set to debut at Goodwood's Festival of Speed, this month.