MELLORS WANTS IRIZ R5 ON WORLD STAGE
MEM’S Proton could make its appearance in WRC 2 next season
The British-based
Proton team Mellors Elliot Motorsport is closing on a WRC 2 entry for next season with the Iriz R5 ready for its full World Rally Championship debut.
The Iriz R5 has competed on a variety of British and Irish national events, but team principal Chris Mellors wants to take the team to the next level and chase another world title for the Malaysian manufacturer.
“It feels like we’ve been working towards this moment for a long time, but we know what we’ve got with the car now,” said Mellors, who has developed the Iriz R5 through his company.
“We’ve got a little bit more testing to do later this month – we’re hoping Marcus Gronholm [two-time WRC champion] will be back over to run the car again for us – and then we’ll be ready for the sign-off spec for 2020.”
Mellors is talking to a number of drivers about the season ahead and understands the timeframe to get an entry in for Monte Carlo is before December 20.
“There are some good options out there, but everybody seems to be waiting on everybody else,” added Mellors, whose son Ollie has won four events on the bounce with the car, including last weekend’s Grizedale Stages (see report, page 17).
“We’ve all been waiting to see what Hyundai and Skoda and all the other guys are doing, but it’s coming to decision time now.
“We’ve done some more work on the engine recently and everything else is ready. The car’s got all the right bits on it with Reiger suspension, Xtrac transmission and Cosworth electronics, everything is there and it’s all bolted to a superb and very strong chassis.”
Proton has a long history of challenging for WRC class honours, with P-G Andersson finishing a close second to Craig Breen driving a Satria S2000 in the 2012 S-WRC. Karamjit Singh won the 2002 PWRC at the wheel of a Proton Pert, while Alister Mcrae lifted the 2011 Asia Pacific title at the wheel of a Satria.
Mellors added: “There’s huge interest in what we’re doing with the rally programme in Malaysia. Proton is keen to increase commitment from their end and there are some partners in Kuala Lumpur looking to get involved as well.
“We’re working to tie these ends together so we can get back out there on the world stage. We’ve built this fabulous car and we want to show folk what it can do.”