The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen and Risto Mannisenmaki have been in fine form on the opening leg of Telstra Rally Australia and the Finnish duo hold third position in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets were cruelly robbed early this morning when they were forced into retirement after a promising display on the opening stage.

Mitsubishi Motors drivers have also set the pace in the Group N production class. World Group N Champion Gustavo Trelles, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, holds a narrow lead over main rival Manfred Stohl in a Mitsubishi Carisma GT.

Eighty-two crews took the re-start from Perth this morning, and the cloudy and wet weather of previous days gave way to 30 degree temperatures and clear blue skies. Today’s route took the contenders out to the east of the West Australian capital city for nine special stages, totalling 147 competitive kilometres, before returning to Langley Park for a second run at the spectacular crowd-entertaining 2.2 kilometre stage in the heart of the city.

Makinen and Mannisenmaki have been inside the top four throughout the day and climbed as high as second until the penultimate stage when tactical manoeuvres took over the rally, as the overnight seeding positions were decided after stage 9. As running order is critical in this event, the leading crews jockeyed for position, dropping vital seconds to secure the best possible starting place for Saturday’s long leg. As a consequence, the leaderboard was turned on its head and each of the top eight drivers traded positions.

Tommi Makinen and Risto Mannisenmaki were in the enviable position of knowing their greatest rivals’ stage times by the time they started the stage, however a difference between Risto’s watch and the organiser’s timing system left them five seconds adrift of their ideal stage time. "Nobody wants to be first car on the road tomorrow, but the regulations have changed here this year and tomorrow’s starting positions are according to the classification after the penultimate stage", said Tommi. "I’m not so happy about being third on the road because we were trying to be further down the leaderboard, but there was a difference in the timing between us and the organisers. They gave us a time which was five seconds better than what we had on Risto’s watch, and that’s turned out to be the difference between third and sixth position".

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Loix / S. Smeets

Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets were forced into retirement in stage 3 with transmission problems. The Carisma GT crew made a flying start in the first stage of the day and were 1.5 seconds faster than Makinen at the mid-point split and only the same adrift of world series leader Marcus Gronholm. However the Belgians were forced to pull over six kilometres into stage 3 with a lack of drive.

"I don’t know exactly what happened but about 500 metres into the first stage this morning there was a big noise somewhere in the transmission", commented a disappointed Freddy, who is celebrating his 30th birthday today. "Later in the stage we lost first and second gears and third wasn’t feeling so good either. We started well on stage 3 but on the hairpins I had to use the clutch very hard and the transmission became more and more stiff. Then, on an uphill section after six kilometres the car stopped and we had no chance to continue. Obviously I’m disappointed and it’s not the best way to celebrate my birthday, but all I can do is look forward to a good finish on the Rally of Great Britain and some better luck with the team next year".

Uruguay’s Gustavo Trelles was one of the leading Group N runners from the start and has built up a slender but useful lead in his trouble-free Lancer Evolution.

"Today everything has been very good and we have had no problems with the car at all, but we have to keep going like this, because if I don’t win here, probably Manfred will win the World Championship," Trelles said.

Austrian Stohl lost a few seconds with a puncture on the ninth stage, but his Carisma GT ran well and he is in a good position to continue his season-long duel with Trelles.

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr.N M. Stohl / P. Muller