The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen and Risto Mannisenmaki finished the opening leg of their home round of the FIA World Rally Championship in sixth position. Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets hold 17th in their Mitsubishi Carisma GT. Mitsubishi Motors’ drivers however seized control of the Group N production car class immediately and Lancer Evolution and Mitsubishi Carisma GT drivers hold the top six places on the Group N leaderboard after the first leg and naturally Finns lead, Jani Paasonen squeezing ahead of Jouko Puhakka.

Rally Finland is one of the most specialised events in the series. The flowing gravel roads are awash with heart-stopping jumps and corners hidden by crests, placing incredible emphasis on driver skill and local knowledge. Known locally as the Jyvaskylan Grand Prix due to its average speeds that top 120 kph, it is little wonder the Finns have historically dominated Rally Finland, and in fact only two non-Nordic driver have won this rally in 50 years of running. Fair weather greeted the 130 starters this morning as they headed out for the opening day’s stages, predominately to the north of Jyvaskyla and, despite rain later this afternoon, this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the fans who pour into the stages in their thousands to support the World Championship stars.

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

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Tommi Makinen, co-driven by Risto Mannisenmaki, is battling hard on his home round of the 14-event series, such is the pace set by overnight leader, Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm. Summing up the day of competition, Makinen commented: "The first three stages were good for us, although we were slowed when we came across Carlos (Sainz) stopped on the second stage. The middle group of stages we chose too soft a compound tyre and then on the final three it started to rain and became very slippery. I don’t know exactly what is wrong at the moment. This is not a normal situation and on this kind of rally there is usually only a small difference between the drivers. Tomorrow we have to try everything and push hard." The Finns ended the day setting the fastest time on the Killeri super special. Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets hold 17th position going into tomorrow’s second leg. The Belgians lost time in stage two when the ignition kept cutting out after a big jump and heavy landing and have suffered with similar intermittent problems throughout the day. "When the engineers had looked at the car they could see that the front of the chassis had been pushed up and the engine and transmission have moved," commented Freddy. "It hasn’t caused us too much of a problem, but later this afternoon we had the same ignition cut-outs and obviously the car gets unstable when this happens and, at such high speeds, this can be pretty noticeable! Generally though things are getting better and we are building up our speed."

Adding to his drivers’ comments, team director Andrew Cowan said "It’s disappointing not to be closer to the top three but we have a good position on the road tomorrow and are looking to close the gap."

In Group N, Flying Finn Juuso Pykalisto led at first, but fellow Carisma GT driver Jani Paasonen, the category winner on this year’s Swedish Rally, drove brilliantly to force his away ahead by the end of the leg.

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr.N J. Paasonen / J. Honkanen