PROTON
comes
into
the
cold

PROTON driver PG Andersson (pictured) contested Saturday’s Rally Finnskog in Norway and finished fourth overall, first Super 2000 and five seconds ahead of Skoda Fabia S2000 driver Andreas Mikkelsen, who was delayed by a spin and a puncture.

Andersson and his team-mate Alister McRae have spent a further trouble-free day testing their PROTONs 80 kilometres north of Hagfors today (Monday).

Mellors said: “The rally in Norway (Finnskog) went very, very well for us. The odd very cold day in Britain aside, this was the first time the Satria-Neo had ever run in anything like these conditions and it worked perfectly straight away. We fitted a stronger heater to make sure the screen was clear and put some warm jackets in the back for the guys, but apart from that, this was the same car which won in Malaysia at 40 degrees. On Saturday it was winning S2000 in temperatures 70 degrees colder!”

Andersson starts his home round of the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship chasing his first points of the season, having lost a seven-minute lead when he retired from Rallye Monte-Carlo with an under-bonnet fire on the final night.

This week’s second round of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia will be McRae’s first outing at the sport’s highest level since 2007.