The Canon Mecsek Rallye’s first appearance on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) calendar this weekend will place PROTON on equal footing with the other contending manufacturers and present it with as good a chance of victory as teams tackle 14 special stages of unfamiliar asphalt. The newly-included event and round eight of the IRC will be contested over a competitive distance of 251.86km in the forest areas north of Pécs, run mainly on high-speed roads with more than 100 teams and 20 IRC regulars taking part.
The team’s challenge will be spearheaded by double Junior World Rally Champion P-G Andersson and two-time FIA European Rally Champion Giandomenico Basso. Both drivers had driven the Satria Neo S2000 to its best finish this season with a ninth and 13th place respectively at the recently-concluded Barum Czech Rally Zlin just over a week ago.
“The results in the Czech Republic showed that we have taken a big step forward in terms of development of the car. We were competitive and we had a strong package. Rallying in Hungary this weekend and with all teams essentially having no significant advantage over the other in terms of previous data and information with regards to set-up, we should be right up there in the heat of competition,” said Andersson.
