Wilks’s IRC Programme with Proton
Announced at Chatsworth were plans for the British champion Guy Wilks to drive a Proton Satria Neo S2000 on future IRC rounds, start with Ypres. MEM chief Chris Mellors has also confirmed continued support from the Proton headquarters in Malaysia for entering events in the FIA’s Asia Pacific regional championship with another driver. Plans for continued presence in the British rally championship or on the Rally GB are undecided, but an entry on the IRC Rally of Scotland is scheduled. For Wilks this news represents a happy end to a roller coaster professional twelvemonth. It was at the Chatsworth Rally Show last year that the idea of the 500 Club, enlisting financial support for a world championship programme with a Subaru Impreza S14 was first started, a project which then failed when Subaru abandoned their WRC plans.

Six Super 2000 Makes at Ypres
When entries closed for Westhoek Ypres Rally (June 18-20, round five of the IRC and round 4 of the FIA’s European championship) it was the first time that Super 2000 cars from six different manufacturers had appeared on the same entry list. Present in addition to orthodox Group N entries from Mitsubishi and Subaru are S2000 cars from Fiat, Opel, Peugeot, Proton, Skoda and VW, and missing will only be MG and Toyota cars. Of the total entries of 73, there are 20 Super 2000 cars on the list, of which Peugeot continues to be the strongest presence with 12.

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