Andersson pleased with Proton test

The Swede drove the Satria for two days close to Grenoble earlier this week and will return to the French Alps, along with Proton team-mate Chris Atkinson, for a further test ahead of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge opener next year.

Andersson drove a current specification Satria on his first test, but the British-based Proton Motorsports team is working on a revised engine for the January 19-22 event.

"The car felt good, it was a positive test," said Andersson. "I feel happy with the car. The chassis was very strong, but I knew that it was going to be good from what the drivers had told me in the past. We did two days in the snow, which was good."

Andersson added that he was looking forward to the new specification engine.

"The engine has good power," said Andersson, "but we need it to be more driveable. At the moment the power is too high in the rev range. The team is working on this and when we get this right, the car will be close to the best cars out there. But for sure, I am looking forward to the Monte now."

Proton team principal Chris Mellors added: "This test was just about putting P-G in the car and giving him some initial seat time. We got through about 200 kilometres (124 miles) in the two days and it was very productive. We were impressed with P-G, he's a committed and quick driver and he's good to work with.

"The whole thing gelled really well. We have the next evolution of engine coming, for this test P-G ran with the current specification. The engine in the cars for Monte will be more driveable."

The Monte Carlo Rally will be Andersson's IRC debut with Proton. The double Junior World Rally champion has plenty of experience of getting into new cars and driving them quickly: he finished 10th overall on his first time in a Skoda Fabia S2000 in Sweden earlier this year and seventh in a Ford Focus RS WRC in Bulgaria.