Proton takes first SWRC victory

• P-G Andersson won SWRC with 3-minute advantage
• Sticky damper almost meant sticky end on second day
• 12th Overall is highest position for P-G in home rally

DRAMATIC  WEEKEND: Bitter cold and powdery snow

conditions made the Rally of Sweden challenging with multiple

World Champion Sebastian Loeb crashing on the first day and 

the eventual winner Jari-Matti Latvala almost lost his lead with 

a puncture in the late stages on the final day. 

After seeing their chance of the first victory snatched from their grasp after stumbling at the last SS in Monte Carlo, the Proton SWRC team took no chances and was handsomely rewarded in the bitter cold of the Rally of Sweden with victory in the SWRC category and a respectable 12th spot overall.

P-G Andersson did not waste any time building up a lead in his home rally and found a two minute advantage by the end of day one and added another minute by the end of the second day.

Andersson made it look easy but the treacherous snowy conditions and bitter cold (temperatures dropped to -40 Celsius at times adn threatened to freeze everything) took its toll on all the teams and their cars. The Proton Satria Neo S2000 began losing confidence at the start of day two with the tail wiggling loose in the snow.

This saw Ford's Craig Breeen make the best of the situation and closed the gap by a few seconds in the first few stages of day two.

Breen was keen to make up lost ground, the result of a shattered rake disc that forced them to make and unscheduled stop in the middle of an SS to remove the damaged disc and caliper and soldier on with three brakes.

Full story and Result Table after the jump. There is also a video to recap Proton's test day before the weekend event.



As Breen clawed away at Andersson's lead, the Andersson knew something drastic had to be done and that was a complete damper change at the 30-minute mid-day service.

Apparently the cold weather, coupled with snow buildup on the suspension had caused the dampers to get sticky and this explained the loose tail of the Satria Neo.

With the frozen units replaced with warmer dampers, the car behaved well again, enough for PG to regain any lost time and add another minute to his lead.

 “It was quite tricky this morning, the rear of the car was sliding all of the time. But this afternoon, it was perfect. We changed all of the dampers on the car and it was very good fun to drive again. This afternoon the car was like new again, we could push and we had confidence to take the time back. It’s not so nice to watch as your rivals are taking your lead away!”

PROTON team principal Chris Mellors explained the situation, saying: “We discovered that the ice was beginning to build up in the dampers and make them stick. We swapped them all and he’s flying again now.”


In the end Proton held on to their three-minute lead over big name Ford and Skoda.

Proton's 2011 APRC Champion, Alister McRae foudn himself stuck 13 km into SS3 on the first day and that wrapped up his chances of weekend shampagne.

Congratulations to Proton and their fantastic achievement, let's hope that they keep up their SWRC pace and reliability and continue to win in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC).




FULL RESULT

Pos	No	Driver		Group Class	Stage Time	Penalties	Total Time	Diff Prev	Diff 1st
1	3	J. LATVALA	M	A0	3:18:28.3	0.0	3:18:28.3	0.0	0.0
2	2	M. HIRVONEN	M	A0	3:18:44.9	0.0	3:18:44.9	+16.6	+16.6
3	15	M. ØSTBERG		A0	3:19:07.1	0.0	3:19:07.1	+22.2	+38.8
4	4	P. SOLBERG	M	A0	3:19:42.6	0.0	3:19:42.6	+35.5	+1:14.3
5	6	E. NOVIKOV	M	A0	3:21:09.7	0.0	3:21:09.7	+1:27.1	+2:41.4
6	1	S. LOEB	M	A0	3:21:13.4	10.0	3:21:23.4	+13.7	+2:55.1
7	10	H. SOLBERG		A0	3:22:17.8	0.0	3:22:17.8	+54.4	+3:49.5
8	52	P. SANDELL		A0	3:23:37.2	0.0	3:23:37.2	+1:19.4	+5:08.9
9	21	M. PROKOP		A0	3:23:58.3	0.0	3:23:58.3	+21.1	+5:30.0
10	64	E. BRYNILDSEN		A0	3:24:55.5	0.0	3:24:55.5	+57.2	+6:27.2
11	60	S. OGIER		A0	3:26:03.3	0.0	3:26:03.3	+1:07.8	+7:35.0
12	33	P. ANDERSSON	S	A0	3:28:16.8	0.0	3:28:16.8	+2:13.5	+9:48.5
13	18	T. NEUVILLE		A0	3:28:32.0	0.0	3:28:32.0	+15.2	+10:03.7
14	62	A. MIKKELSEN		A0	3:28:46.8	0.0	3:28:46.8	+14.8	+10:18.5
15	12	A. ARAUJO		A0	3:30:19.2	1:10.0	3:31:29.2	+2:42.4	+13:00.9
16	32	C. BREEN	S	A0	3:31:42.6	10.0	3:31:52.6	+23.4	+13:24.3
17	68	M. PAJUNEN		A0	3:32:54.3	0.0	3:32:54.3	+1:01.7	+14:26.0
18	49	P. TIDEMAND	S	A0	3:33:06.4	0.0	3:33:06.4	+12.1	+14:38.1
19	17	P. VAN MERKSTEIJN		A0	3:33:47.5	0.0	3:33:47.5	+41.1	+15:19.2
20	8	M. SOLOWOW		A0	3:35:08.5	0.0	3:35:08.5	+1:21.0	+16:40.2
21	7	N. AL ATTIYAH	M	A0	3:35:38.4	0.0	3:35:38.4	+29.9	+17:10.1
22	65	A. GRØNDAL		A0	3:38:28.7	0.0	3:38:28.7	+2:50.3	+20:00.4
23	31	H. PADDON	S	A0	3:39:26.9	0.0	3:39:26.9	+58.2	+20:58.6
24	36	Y. AL RAJHI	S	A0	3:44:34.4	0.0	3:44:34.4	+5:07.5	+26:06.1
25	70	J. HAUGOM		A0	3:45:29.6	10.0	3:45:39.6	+1:05.2	+27:11.3
26	67	H. WENG		A0	3:46:57.0	20.0	3:47:17.0	+1:37.4	+28:48.7
27	71	B. VANAGAS		A0	3:48:58.4	1:00.0	3:49:58.4	+2:41.4	+31:30.1
28	77	K. BURGER		A0	3:51:13.1	0.0	3:51:13.1	+1:14.7	+32:44.8
29	69	M. GUSTAFSSON		A0	3:54:14.8	0.0	3:54:14.8	+3:01.7	+35:46.5
30	79	F. LARSEN		A0	3:53:54.6	4:40.0	3:58:34.6	+4:19.8	+40:06.3
31	76	F. FONT		A0	4:04:22.3	10.0	4:04:32.3	+5:57.7	+46:04.0
32	72	Z. SZABO		A0	4:10:15.4	0.0	4:10:15.4	+5:43.1	+51:47.1
33	73	J. ROMAN		A0	4:17:06.4	10.0	4:17:16.4	+7:01.0	+58:48.1
34	35	M. OLEKSOWICZ	S	A0	4:18:40.4	10.0	4:18:50.4	+1:34.0	+1:00:22.1
35	75	E. BOLAND		A0	4:18:55.0	0.0	4:18:55.0	+4.6	+1:00:26.7
36	81	R. KVARACIEJUS		A0	4:22:58.7	0.0	4:22:58.7	+4:03.7	+1:04:30.4
37	34	A. MCRAE	S	A0	4:29:02.1	0.0	4:29:02.1	+6:03.4	+1:10:33.8
38	19	R. GÖRANSSON		A0	4:35:13.5	0.0	4:35:13.5	+6:11.4	+1:16:45.2
39	83	J. WALFRIDSON		A0	4:37:23.5	0.0	4:37:23.5	+2:10.0	+1:18:55.2
40	84	J. PARA		A0	4:40:26.7	0.0	4:40:26.7	+3:03.2	+1:21:58.4
41	82	D. OLIVEIRA		A0	4:48:42.5	10.0	4:48:52.5	+8:25.8	+1:30:24.2
42	85	L. STORM		A0	4:57:40.6	0.0	4:57:40.6	+8:48.1	+1:39:12.3