Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Proton Car Engine Failure [6/25/2005]
Kuala Lumpur, June 25 --- Proton’s debut entry to the Japan Super GT --- the new Lotus Exige RR --- had engine failure during the morning qualifying session.
During the session the car clocked a creditable time of 2:11:467 secs in the third lap of the 5.543km F1 designed circuit and attained 14th position among 27 cars in the GT300 class --- ahead of some foreign and Japanese cars like the Porsche, Advan Z, Toyota Celica, Corvette and Ferrari before the car had engine failure.
The car is entered by the Proton R3-Amprex Motorsports Team, led by the Malaysian manufacturer which also owns Lotus, in association with its Motorsports Division R3 and Kuala Lumpur-based Amprex Motorsports, a regular Japan GT (as the series was formerly called) participant.
A joint statement Proton R3 chief Tengku Djan Ley, who is also a driver in the team and Genji Hashimoto, team director and owner of Amprex Motorsports said that steps were being taken to bring in a new engine from Lotus to be in time to participate in tomorrow’s final race session.
“If the engine does not arrive then we will withdraw from the race”, they said.
Hashimoto said that there was an engine blow-up in one of the laps at the morning session and this was the second engine. The first engine blew up during practice session last week.
The car is powered by a GM supplied 3- litre V6 engine developing 400 hp. The Lotus designed and engineered car was part manufactured by RTN, the team responsible for the Le Mans wining Bentley.
He said that at the moment the team could not confirm its participation in Round 6 (Fuji Speedway) and Round 8 (Suzuka Circuit), as planned.
“This is a new car and we anticipate problems and are trying our best to sort it out and make it race worthy as soon as possible”, he said.
This is Proton’s first debut in this top international GT cars championship series of which two rounds have been completed in Japan. After Round 3 in Sepang, the remaining five rounds will be held in Japan ending with an exhibition race in California, USA. Several former F1 drivers are participating in the race which is the most popular motor race in Japan.
The main promoters of the series is Japan GT Association and the Malaysian Round 3 by SIC (Sepang International Circuit).
In tomorrow’s final session a total of 17 cars will participate in the GT500 class and 27 cars in the GT300 class. The event will start at 9.30 am with several support races while the main race of 54 laps will start at 4 p.m.
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