"Australia generally seems to suit our car, but it’ll be hard to match the best of the World Rally Cars", said Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short. "We’ve been happy with the performance on recent events, if less so with the results, but it takes time to get the best from a car. It’s just been a process of gradual refinement of the latest version and we’ll be trying 110 per cent to give Tommi a car with which he can get the podium. I think the first two legs will be tactical, with all the cars closely bunched unless somebody has a phenomenal first leg and manages to pull out a lead of a minute or so. Even so, the chances are that nobody will want to run first on such slippery roads and we can expect a very tight finish. Freddy finished just off the podium last year and we hope he can repeat that form again".

Only Mitsubishi Motors drivers stand a chance of winning the Group N production car World Cup on Rally Australia, the 13th and penultimate round of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship. Austrian Manfred Stohl, driving a Mitsubishi Carisma GT, will be vying for victory against Uruguay’s four-times Group N World Champion Gustavo Trelles in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, but a host of gifted challengers, including some newcomers, will be aiming to beat them in the rally itself.

Stohl is highly experienced and has led the Championship all season, but he is under considerable pressure as Trelles closes in and the title contest enters its decisive phase.

"I can win the Championship in Australia and that is what I hope to do, but it is really important that we finish. Gustavo will be a tough man to beat", Stohl predicted.

Trelles’s confidence has been boosted after beating his great rival on the recent Rallye Sanremo, but he knows he has to overcome Stohl again to stand a real chance of retaining his world title.

"Australia has always been a good rally for me and I know the stages very well. This has been a really difficult season though and we have to do well to win the Championship", Trelles commented.

The Group N entry is stronger than ever, putting intense pressure on Stohl and Trelles. They face some unusual rivals in Australia too, including rising Finnish star Juha Kangas, who has already made his mark in the World Championship, and French racing driver Erik Comas, who has rallied a Lancer Evolution to great effect in the United States.

Other likely front runners include newly-crowned Finnish Group N Champion Jani Paasonen, who has already triumphed in Group N twice at World Championship level this year in his Carisma GT, and gifted Argentineans Claudio Menzi and Gabriel Pozzo, both driving Lancer Evolutions, who have each won the category in their first season competing abroad. New Zealander Reece Jones could also prove a threat in his similar car. However, there is stern opposition from local Subaru drivers such as Cody Crocker, who will certainly keep the Mitsubishi contenders on their toes.

Telstra Rally Australia runs from 9-12 November. It is based in Perth and covers 1,283 kilometres, with 21 special stages spanning 391 kilometres. Langley Park on the banks of the Swan River will be the focal point of the event as the cars race on a purpose built special stage on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. The longest of the three legs is the first, which includes nearly 150 competitive kilometres due east of Perth, divided into 10 separate stages, including two runs at Langley Park. The second leg heads south for a further seven stages, based around the country town of Harvey. There will be 141 kilometres of flat-out driving, including the longest stage of the rally, the 45-kilometre Wellington Dam test. The final leg will be concentrated in the Sotico Forest, formerly known as Bunnings, and offers four stages covering 100 kilometres to the southeast.