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Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart drivers Tommi Makinen, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Freddy Loix, driving a Mitsubishi Carisma GT, are aiming for a positive conclusion to the season on the Rally of Great Britain, the 14th and final round of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship.
Mitsubishi Motors drivers Manfred Stohl and Gustavo Trelles are locked in a thrilling race for the Group N production class World Cup. Stohl, driving a Mitsubishi Carisma GT, has led all season, but he is just one point ahead of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Gustavo Trelles, who is bidding for a remarkable fifth successive World Championship.
This year, the Rally of Great Britain enters a new era. It is based entirely in Wales for the first time and the route has been significantly modified. The Sunday spectator stages have been scrapped in favour of a compact, three-leg route concentrated on the forest stages that give the rally its daunting reputation. The start has also been moved to the Welsh capital of Cardiff, 210 kilometres west of London and in the Mouth of the Severn River, and there will be a spectator stage in the city itself designed to appeal to fans and television viewers alike. With two British drivers featuring prominently and the World Championship at stake, there is sure to be an electric atmosphere in the forests, no matter how hostile the weather is. Hundreds of thousands of fans will brave Britain’s winter rain, mud, sleet and fog, all of which could not be bigger contrast to the warm, spring weather in Perth two weeks ago for Rally Australia.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
T. Makinen / R. Mannisenmaki
(Photo: '00 Rd.13 Rally Australia)
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Curiously, Tommi Makinen and co-driver Risto Mannisenmaki have yet to win this event, despite their phenomenal record, but Makinen believes that this is the year when he can take his Michelin-equipped Lancer Evolution to victory in Britain, and is doubly determined after his Australian disappointment.
"I think we showed in Australia that we still have a very competitive car. We have made some little changes to the suspension, which improve traction and I think it will be very good on these slippery Welsh stages. I am looking forward to it very much", Makinen stated.
Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have less experience of British conditions than most top World Championship crews, but they took a useful fifth place last year in their Carisma GT and hope to build on that experience.
Mitsubishi Carisma GT
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
F. Loix / S. Smeets
(Photo: '00 Rd.13 Rally Australia)
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"The stages are very nice, but this is always a difficult rally because of the weather. You can get a lot of rain or even snow and it is almost always very slippery. I hope we can improve on last year, but there is a lot of opposition and it will be hard work", Loix said.
"Obviously, we are very encouraged by the Australian performance", Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short added. "The signs are that the car is achieving the potential we hoped for when we made some improvements in the middle of the season. For some reason, Tommi has never had a particularly good result in Britain, which is strange, because he says he likes the stages. Perhaps now, with the confidence of beating the others for speed in Australia, he can finally go for it. I’m sure it will help that there are no Championship considerations at stake. If Freddy gets a good, clean run, I’m sure he can finish in the points. As the Championship will still be open, there will certainly be people going hell for leather and, in British conditions, that can lead to trouble, especially in the second leg, which has more new stages".
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
T. Makinen / R. Mannisenmaki
(Photo: '00 Rd.13 Rally Australia)
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In Group N, there is everything to fight for and Austrian Manfred Stohl, who is aiming for his first World title, knows that he is under intense pressure from a vastly experienced opponent. Winning the class would be a bonus, whereas beating Trelles is vital.
"I have a bit more experience of this rally than Gustavo, because Išve done it three times now, but I don’t think that matters so much. The weather can make things very unpredictable and you need a bit of luck", he said.
Uruguay’s Gustavo Trelles has not contested Britain’s round of the World Championship for some years, but he is more than familiar with the nature of the rally.
"I will not know some of the stages as well as Manfred maybe, but I think we have a good chance anyway. I think for sure it will be a very exciting rally", Trelles commented.
In fact, while no one can beat them in the Championship, neither Stohl nor Trelles can be confident of victory on the rally, for there is a superb entry in Group N. However, Mitsubishi has an excellent chance of maintaining its extraordinary unbeaten record in the production category this season. Likely front runners include a formidable Finnish trio, Jani Paasonen a winner already this year Juha Kangas and Jouko Puhakka, all driving Carisma GTs, while 1984 World Champion Stig Blomqvist and fellow Swede Kenneth Backlund will drive similar cars, and cannot be overlooked. Britain’s best hope is Neil Simpson, who has put in some fine performances on home ground this year in his Carisma GT.
Trelles will be joined by a number of other talented South Americans, including Argentine duo Claudio Menzi and Gabriel Pozzo, and Peru’s Ramon Ferreyros, all three handling Lancer Evolutions.
The rally begins with a first run at the purpose-built super special stage in Cardiff on 23 November and covers 1,509 kilometres, with 17 stages totalling 380 kilometres, before the finish on 26 November. The first leg, which includes 127 kilometres of flat-out driving, recommences on 24 November for a seven-stage loop into central Wales and some of the classic Welsh stages, such as Crychan and Hafren. The second leg is the longest and therefore probably the hardest, with six stages covering 166 kilometres in south Wales, including a daunting 46-kilometre run through Resolfen. The final leg offers just 84 stage kilometres, but all three tests are long and difficult, and the result could remain in doubt until the very end.
1st LEG - Cardiff - Cardiff (602.07 km)
2nd LEG - Cardiff - Cardiff (476.67 km)
3rd LEG - Cardiff - Cardiff (430.74 km)
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