ALTHOUGH it's not an F1 car or a supercar like a Ferrari or Lamborghini, the Proton Suprima S driven by race car driver James Veerapen was enough to put me glued to the car seat during that one lap run.
The stability of the car, the handling and all the racing technology the Proton R3 team has put into the car made it a mean machine for the Sepang F1 track.
No wonder the Team Proton R3 (R3), dominated Round 3 of the 2019 Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) by clinching a double victory that included locking out the podium places with a 1-2-3 finish in race two.
The Press members got a chance to ride in one of three Proton R3 race cars prior to the race.
Held at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), each race was a gruelling one hour affair that tested the limits of the cars and their drivers and ultimately proved once again that R3 are the dominant team in the M-Production class.
The Proton Suprima S driven by Mitchell Cheah qualified on pole position but his teammates Fariqe Hairuman and Syafiq Ali in the Proton Iriz and James Veerapen in the Proton Saga only managed fourth and fifth on the starting grid as the team worked continuously to find the perfect handling balance for both cars.
During the race, the Proton Suprima S driven by Mitchell dominated the race and took the chequered flag to give R3 yet another M-Production class victory in the 2019 championship.
The other two R3 cars ended race one where they started, in fourth and fifth, leaving the team with a lot of work to do to ensure a strong finish for the second race of the weekend.
“Round three of the MCS was a tough challenge for R3 as we strived to maximise our points haul in both races. The one-hour endurance race format over the weekend was a very good opportunity for us to work on the performance and reliability of our Proton racing machines and the results show we are on the right track to win the overall title. It also shows our cars will be strong during this year’s Sepang 1000KM (S1K), so it was a great effort all around,” said Gary Lee, Team Principal of Proton R3.