Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Tommi Makinen finished the Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava, the fifth round of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship, in fourth position today. Despite setting fastest time on one of the four concluding stages, the Finnish four-times World Rally Champion was simply unable to power his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution up the leaderboard, such was the intensity of the competition. In a monumental showdown for outright victory, Britons Colin McRae (Ford) and Richard Burns (Subaru), and local hero Carlos Sainz (Ford) were split by only a handful of seconds all day and McRae’s victory was only decisive on the final 18 kilometre stage. Mitsubishi Carisma GT driver Freddy Loix finished eighth overall.

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

In the prestigious Group N production car category, Mitsubishi once again took top honours, Carisma GTs and Lancer Evolutions taking the leading seven positions. German star Uwe Nittel won the class and, in doing so, becomes Mitsubishis fifth different winner in as many events. He took a convincing one minute 23 second advantage over four-times World Cup winner Gustavo Trelles.

After five rounds, Richard Burns maintains the lead he established in Portugal in the Drivers’ Championship and Tommi Makinen holds onto second position. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Subaru still lead and Ford, with both drivers in the top three overall, move up the leaderboard into second position. Mitsubishi holds third with French manufacturer, Peugeot.

Today’s 110 competitive kilometres were run over just two stages, each run twice, and took the contenders directly north of Barcelona to the mountain roads near Vic. Fears of unpredictable weather never materialised and the thousands of fans were treated to some of the closest-fought action the World Rally Championship has seen. Tommi Makinen and co-driver Risto Mannisenmaki had a trouble-free run today, but simply ran out of stage kilometres to overhaul their rivals.

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr. N U. Nittel / D. Ruf

"Of course it is good to finish and get points, but I had a few difficulties on the first two days and it has been really hard", said Tommi. "The battle has been very big and before we had our brake problem last night we were still in with a good chance of fighting for victory. After that, it made things much harder but we continued to push because everyone was fighting, so anything could have happened. Now I am looking forward to our break before Argentina and am confident we can fight for a fourth victory in South America".

Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets held a safe eighth in their Mitsubishi Carisma GT. Freddy, who finished the event second overall in 1998, was disappointed not to be higher up the order, but has suffered his fair share of difficulties in the 2000 event.

"For sure it has not been the easiest event", he commented. "It seems that the brake fluid pipe is working loose or being knocked off when we cut corners, so this is something we must look at for the future".

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr.N U. Nittel / D. Ruf

Adding to the drivers’ comments, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short said: "The competition has been very fierce and I think we have done as well as we could to pick up points. Looking to Argentina, we have a proven package and Tommi has three consecutive victories to his credit. We are looking for a good points haul there".

Mitsubishis have proved near-unbeatable for years in Group N and the Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava marked Mitsubishi’s fifth victory in as many World Championship rallies this season. It also brought the fifth success for a different driver, as Nittel swept to a commanding victory having led from the first day of the rally.

"I’m really pleased to score this victory after a big battle with Gustavo Trelles. I guess it is revenge for 1996, when he beat me here when we were fighting for the World Championship. Yesterday was the most important day. I was pushing really hard on the last two stages yesterday afternoon, so today has been easy, although I had to be careful all the time not to get a puncture," Nittel said.

Gustavo Trelles and Argentine co-driver Jorge Del Buono were well satisfied with second place after a trouble-free rally in their Lancer Evolution, as the result keeps them very much in contention for the Group N World Championship, which Trelles has won for the past four years. "We have done our best and I don’t think it was possible to beat Uwe here. We had a few tyre problems on the second day round Tarragona and I think that made a difference," Trelles commented.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N G. Trelles / J. del Buono