The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen and Risto Mannisenmaki suffered a set-back to their 2000 Rallye de France - Tour de Corse campaign when they dropped from a fighting sixth to ninth position during today’s second leg.

Mitsubishi Motors drivers however continue to dominate the leaderboard in the Group N production car category. Austria’s Manfred Stohl has a comfortable lead in his Mitsubishi Carisma GT over Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, with Hungarian Krisztian Hideg lying third in another Carisma GT. Mitsubishi drivers hold the top 14 places in Group N.

The most spectacular thunderstorm struck the Mediterranean island of Corsica last night, guaranteeing dirty and slippery roads today in the mountains above Corte, 88 kilometres north of Ajaccio. Weather conditions have however been surprisingly favourable, early cloud and damp conditions giving way to blue skies and sunshine as the day wore on. Francois Delecour snatched the lead from Gilles Panizzi in the final stage of the day, however today’s second leg has seen the cancellation of one stage (SS8) due to the sheer volume of spectators, and the stopping of another (SS10) after the Ford crew of Colin McRae and Nicky Grist went off the road and required medical assistance. Both were lucky to escape serious injury.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart Tommi Makinen

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Tommi Makinen started the day full of confidence, however, in the first and longest stage of the rally, the Finn had difficulty getting into rhythm and found many of the corners - cut by the drivers ahead - strewn with gravel and mud making conditions even more treacherous on the twisty mountain roads. Then, in stage 9, Makinen lost three minutes after hitting a rock and damaging the front left corner of the car.

"Its been a long and difficult day with the time schedule changing completely. There’s been a lot of waiting around and it’s been difficult to keep a good rhythm", commented Tommi. "We made a mistake on stage 9 when we hit a stone, lost the brakes and bent the drumstick, but we managed to drive through the stage and fix the car to about ninety percent condition. The last two stages were good for us, but it’s difficult to go flat out when you’re two minutes away from one point. We’ll try again tomorrow though and go out fighting as usual, but use the time as a competitive test session for Sanremo as well".

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short added: "It’s been a disjointed day and unfortunately it got off to a bad start with Tommi losing a lot of time. He and Risto did well to repair the car and keep us in the rally, and they’ve been setting some competitive times and will be trying to work themselves into the points tomorrow".

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

Manfred Stohl drove beautifully throughout to extend his narrow overnight Group N lead in his ultra-reliable Carisma GT. The Austrian has led the Group N World Championship all season and another victory would tilt the odds firmly in his favour.

"I am happy still to be in front, but you can never relax. Things can go wrong without warning and we have to keep concentrating if we want to win tomorrow. We must win this for the Championship", Stohl stated.

Arch-rival Gustavo Trelles is enjoying a trouble-free run in his Lancer Evolution, but suspects that he won’t be able to catch Stohl, who has a class lead of more than a minute.

"We are a bit too far behind Manfred. We picked the wrong tyres for one stage in the first leg and then for the rain this morning. The car is going very, very well, but I don’t think it is going to be enough", Trelles said.

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