Proton S70 R3 Achieves Top 5 Class Finish at S1K 2024

Despite missing out on the grand prize, the Proton S70 R3 still finishes in the top five in its class at the 2024 Sepang 1000 KM race.

The 2024 Sepang 1000 KM (S1K) endurance race has concluded in a rather surprising manner, where privateer teams dominated the podium ahead of their factory-backed rivals. Amidst all the chaos and thrills, the Proton R3 team managed to salvage a respectable top five finish in its category with its new Proton S70 R3 Malaysian Touring Car (MTC).

While Proton had high hopes for its spanking new racer, things weren’t exactly smooth sailing for the national automaker, as neither of the two S70 R3 MTC cars finished near the top four spot during qualifying. More troubles brewed for Proton R3 in the early part of the race, as car #81 was forced into an early retirement, as driver Syafiq Ali spun from behind and crashed into a wall on lap 8.

Fortunately, the second car managed to finish the race despite facing technical issues early in the race, which saw it being sidelined in the pits for over 40 minutes. Piloted by a young driver duo of Ariff Azmi and Alister Yoong, car #82 managed to hurdle itself back to the race, finishing in the top five in its top MTC class and 27th in overall position.

Despite missing out on the grand prize, its top five class finish can be considered quite a respectable achievement for Proton R3, given its five-year hiatus from the series and the decision to outfit an entirely new car for the race.

Commenting on this achievement, Proton deputy CEO Roslan Abdullah said, “Team Proton R3, its drivers, and the Proton S70 R3 have added to Proton’s proud racing heritage by delivering a strong performance at the 2024 S1K race. While we targeted another overall win, the team was aware of the daunting task that lay ahead to compete with a brand new car against teams that had competed in races for the last three years and were much further ahead on the vehicle development curve.”

“Ultimately, we have no complaints, although an accident early in the race caused the retirement of car #81, while a technical issue in car #82 caused it to lose time in the pits and dropped it out of overall contention. So while the final result could have been better, a lot of data was collected over the weekend, and finishing fifth in the MTC class has set a baseline for R3 to launch its assault on the 2025 racing season,” Roslan added.

Those who missed out on the live action of the Proton S70 R3 MTC at S1K last weekend can still check out and size up this new racer at the upcoming Kuala Lumpur International Mobility Show (KLIMS) 2024, where it will be displayed from Dec 5 to 11 at MITEC Kuala Lumpur.