The world-championship-winning Formula One Team of Lotus Renault GP (LRGP) made a historic visit to PROTON headquarters in Shah Alam, giving the F1 team an insight into the Malaysian car manufacturing industry. The LRGP entourage was led by none other than Managing Director and Team Principal Eric Boullier, who was joined by key members of his management team.
Continue reading
As announced earlier, here’s the official press release issued by Proton on the launch of the 2011 R3 Satria Neo.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUBANG JAYA, 7th March 2011 – Engineered for more spirited and dynamic driving enjoyment, PROTON today introduced an exclusive hot hatch, the Proton R3 Satria Neo.
Built by PROTON’s Motorsports Division under the Race, Rally, Research (R3) brand name, the car is distinctively recognizable by its striking Fire Red exterior with a black painted roof.
Running the tried and tested 1600cc CAMPRO CPS engine, R3 engineers have upgraded its performance with the addition of Stage 2 performance upgrades inviting car enthusiasts to experience a greater dose of excitement. This increases power from the standard 125 bhp and 150 Nm of torque to 145 bhp at 7000 rpm and 168 Nm of torque at 5000 rpm coupled to a close ratio 5-speed manual transmission.
Continue reading
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kuala Lumpur, 2nd December 2010: PROTON Holdings Berhad today launched its new line up of R3 Performance Accessories giving PROTON car owners, especially racing enthusiasts, the opportunity to redefine their car’s performance and aesthetics for more excitement on the road.
The new line up, developed for the PROTON Satria Neo and Gen2 models by its motorsports division, Race.Rally.Research (R3), is geared to significantly enhance performance through superior handling, improved drivability while providing a modern and distinct style through affordable quality parts and accessories.
Continue reading
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E 14th November 2010
Lotus Racing secured its primary goal of tenth place in the 2010 FIA Formula One™ World Championship when Heikki Kovalainen finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 17th place. Jarno Trulli’s race came to an unfortunate end on lap 51 and finished in the garage after his car suffered a rear wing failure with just three laps left.
Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-03) 17th, fastest lap 1.45.378: “What a fantastic end to our season. The race itself was just great, right from when the lights went out. I got the best start of the season, made up places immediately and from that point on I just got my head down and got on with it. Everything went perfectly according to plan. The tyres weren’t really degarding and as the car got lighter and the fuel burnt away I was able to keep putting in what felt like qualifying laps throughout the whole race. I was able to pull away a gap to the cars behind me and we managed the traffic really well all race. After I came out of the pits I had to let a few cars past which cost me several seconds, but that wasn’t a problem as I could keep pulling away from my direct rivals. This is the perfect way to end our first season, and gives us a huge boost for next year. We finished on a high, achieved all our goals and we have a very exciting future ahead of us. Thank you to the whole team for a fantastic season – I can’t wait for next year.”
Continue reading
Official Press Release
Sao Paulo, Brazil – 5th November 2010
Today’s announcement by Bernard Rey, President of Renault Sport, of the engine partnership with Renault from the 2011 season and beyond finally confirms one of the most interesting stories of the 2010 Formula One™ season and is a clear sign of the strength of the Anglo – Malaysian team’s ambitions to move up the grid as quickly as possible. Team Principal Tony Fernandes, Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne and Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat gave their thoughts on the announcement today.
Continue reading
Official Press Release
Hingham, UK 1st November 2010
Round 18 of the FIA Formula One™ World Championship sees the pack head to Brazil for the only South American leg of the season and one of the sport’s classic venues; Sao Paulo. The punishing end-of-season calendar sees the Brazil race back to back with the season-ending event in Abu Dhabi, but before heading to the Middle-East Lotus Racing is looking to take another step closer to securing its place as the best of the 2010 new teams at the technical Brazilian circuit.
Continue reading
Yeongam, Korea 24th October 2010
An historic race in Korea came to an end in the dark with Lotus Racing’s Heikki Kovalainen taking advantage of an incident packed race to finish in 13th place. Team mate Jarno Trulli’s race again came to an early conclusion with hydraulic issues on lap 25, but the team now head to Brazil still at the head of the new teams after some excellent work on and off track all weekend.
Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-03) 13th, fastest lap 1.55.018 – lap 43: “It was another excellent result for the team today. In tricky conditions like that with people making mistakes, we could have seen our tenth position under threat, but we were there at the end and that is what counts. I really enjoyed the race, and didn’t really have any problems that we couldn’t deal with – the team made the right calls throughout and that put us in a strong position at the end of the race. It was obviously pretty dark when we finished, but that was the same for everyone. Now we head to Brazil and we have two more races to secure our place as the best of the new teams this year.”
Yeongam, Korea 22nd October 2010
Lotus Racing’s Heikki Kovalainen officially christened the Yeongam Circuit in Korea when he was the first car on track in today’s FP1 at the inaugural Korean Grand Prix. A good day on track for the Anglo-Malaysian team saw Heikki and Jarno Trulli finish 19th and 20th respectively, top of the new team charts having completed a total of 81 laps between them.
Continue reading
Hingham, UK 15th October 2010
Next stop South Korea. Marking another first in F1™ history, the 2010 Championship now moves to the brand new Yeongam circuit for round 17 of the 2010 FIA Formula One™ World Championship. Lotus Racing head to the recently finished track in buoyant mood, having recorded their best ever finish at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix when Heikki Kovalainen brought his T127 home 12th, with teammate Jarno Trulli just behind in 13th.
Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-03): “I left Suzuka on Monday morning still buzzing after such a great race. I said then that the car was just fantastic to drive, and all drivers pray for days like that – it meant so much to the whole team, and our fans, for us to go one better than we did in Australia. That sort of result gives us a huge boost as the season draws towards the end, particularly because we were so far ahead of both Virgins – while they have kept updating their car at each race, we’ve been working on 2011 and haven’t updated our car since Silverstone, so to stay that far ahead is a major result.
Continue reading