Proton: We'd love to have Petter in 2010

TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH CHRIS MELLORS: CLICK HERE

MEM World Rally Team boss Chris Mellors has said that they would definitely be interested in signing Petter Solberg for 2010 and having the Norwegian on-board to drive the all-new Proton Satria S2000.

The Proton Satria S2000 made its debut in the World Rally Championship in Ireland last weekend and while Niall McShea didn't finish, he did do enough to show it already has fantastic pace.

Speaking exclusively to Crash.net Radio following its debut outing, Mellors added that while it is early days, there is a chance 'Hollywood' will get to test the car this year as well as possibly using it on an event.

"Petter is obviously looking at next year and what is available for Super 2000 and Super 2000 plus. We would very much like to have him in the car and we are exploring all possibilities," Mellors explained.

"There are a number of drivers out there that are looking for rides and it would be great to be able to do something with him. We will see how that progresses."

As for how the car went in Ireland, Mellors was understandably very happy to see the Proton Satria S2000 right in the thick of the action, with McShea posting some excellent times, including a brilliant third best effort in SS1.

While McShea had to retire early on the opening day due to an electrical issue and then crashed out in the final stage on the Saturday, Mellors added that it was still very much a case of mission accomplished.

"We were absolutely delighted," he added. "We had a reasonable test the week before and the car was proving to be fairly fast. But we never quite expected the pace that we got over the stages.

"We wanted to just measure the pace of the car against the Group N and the WRC cars and we achieved that.

"We were very disappointed on the first day when a missing o-ring out of the ECU [Electronic Control Unit] caused us not to be able to continue because I think at the end of the first day we would have been very strong.

"The second day obviously you don't push quite so hard and the accident Niall had was just one of those things. It was a very big puddle and it just aquaplaned and the car left the road on a very narrow section and that was that.

"But we weren't attacking quite as hard on the second day but Niall still put in top ten times and proved what we can do."

Asked what happens next, Mellors noted that he needs to meet with Proton now to thrash out where they go from here, although a run on the first round of the Italian championship or in the British championship seems highly likely.

"We are doing a lot of testing at the moment and we are doing a lot of work towards trying to get it out on some IRC [Intercontinental Rally Challenge] rounds and probably some British championship rounds too.

"I have got to sit down now with Proton and see how we take the project forward. They are very excited by the pace of the car.

"We are going to get our heads together and then see what the best route is to take the project," he summed-up.

TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH CHRIS MELLORS: CLICK HERE