KUALA LUMPUR: Proton R3 dominated Round 3 of the 2019 Malaysia Championship Series (MCS) by securing a double victory including taking podium places with 1-2-3 finish in Race 2.
Held at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) last weekend, the team proved once again that they are dominant in the M-Production class during the two one-hour races.
Initially during qualifying session, the Proton Suprima S with Mitchell Cheah behind the wheel qualified on pole position but his teammates Fariqe Hairuman and Syafiq Ali in the Proton Iriz and James Veerapan in the Proton Saga only managed fourth and fifth on the starting grid.
Mitchell in the Proton Suprima S lead Race 1 and took chequered flag but the other two cars finished where they started, in fourth and fifth.
Race 2 on Sunday however saw all three cars quickly sprinting off the line to the head of the field from the position they finished in Race 1; Suprima S from pole position and Iriz and the Saga both from fourth and fifth positions respectively.
By dominating race two, R3 gave itself a window of opportunity to maximise the points scored by their leading team.
At the end of the race, however, it was the Proton Iriz of Fariqe and Syafiq that was first across the finishing line followed by Mitchell in his Proton Suprima S and James in the Proton Saga.
It was the first time R3 had finished the race in the top-three positions.
As a result, it left Fariqe and Syafiq just two points behind the current championship leader for the M-Production class in the 2019 Malaysia Championship Series.
“Round three of the MCS was a tough challenge for R3 as we strived to maximize 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.