The Proton Iriz RX‘s first year of racing has taken it to Strängnäs Motorstadion in Sweden, where it will be piloted by Patrick O’Donovan in this weekend’s Nitro Rallycross round.
Modelled after the Proton R5 rally car, which in turn is based on the Malaysian Proton Iriz street car, the Iriz RX is fielded by Team RX Racing for competition in the FIA European Rallycross Championship RX1 and 5 Nations British Rallycross Championship Supercar classes. The car was the product of a partnership between Tony Bardy Motorsport and Mellors Elliot Motorsport, with the latter overseeing the building process in Derbyshire.
Oliver O’Donovan, Patrick’s father and the 2007 BRX champion, drove the car in the BRX rounds at Lydden Hill and Pembrey along with ERX’s Nyírad and Höljes weekends. Racing against his son, O’Donovan and the Iriz finished fifth and fourth in the two Lydden Hill races followed by fifth and fourth at Pembrey. With ERX, the Iriz made the semi-finals in both its starts and finished fifteenth and twelfth in class.
The younger O’Donovan ran the Nitro RX season opener at Lydden Hill in June in a Ford Fiesta, where he finished third in the Supercar Final. The eighteen-year-old currently leads the BRX standings, assisted by a weekend sweep in Pembrey, and is also contesting the full FIA World Rallycross Championship RX2e season. Patrick and Oliver finished 1–2 in the BRX Mondello Park round, where the latter piloted a Ford like his son.
“I’m stoked to be racing in round two of Nitro Rallycross in Sweden after having a good weekend in round one at Lydden Hill,” said O’Donovan. “It will be something new for me to be out in the Proton as the team continues the development of the car in only it’s fourth race weekend. I have never even really sat it properly before, and I’ve not even driven it in the paddock, so the first practice sessions at Strangnas will be interesting. It will be a totally new track for me as well, so the plan is to have a blast, keep it lit and see what happens.”