It was a picture-perfect finish for Team Proton R3 to bring the curtain down on a triumphant 2019 season with a one-two finish in the Sepang 1,000km (S1K) race for a third consecutive win. They’ll probably have to invest in a new trophy cabinet as the win makes it five overall victories for the team to go along with their Malaysian Championship Series title this year as well.
Piloting the latest Proton Iriz across the finish line ahead of the pack was Mitchell Cheah and Fariqe Hairuman. The duo were followed by Syafiq Ali and Admi Shahrul in a 2019 Proton Saga to take the top two podium spots.
This year also marked the debut of Proton R3’s all-female driving team that was made up of successful entrants from the MSF-R3 Lady Drivers Search earlier in the year. Nurul Husna and Faye Kusairi joined Leona Chin to pilot a Proton Saga as the third car under the R3 banner and they were determined not to let the boys have all the fun.
Although off to a bad start due to a technical issue during qualifying pushing them back to 26th on the grid for the start, the ladies displayed amazing prowess, skill and patience to climb up the field and finish seventh overall.
Proton R3 now has five overall victories from 11 editions of the S1K and can lay claim to be the most successful manufacturer in the series.