The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki finished Rallye Sanremo, the 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship, on the podium in a fine third position in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, with team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets eighth.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart T. Makinen / R. Mannisenmaki

Mitsubishi Motors drivers yet again took all the leading positions in the Group N production car class. Italian drivers reigned supreme, Gianluigi Galli taking a narrow victory over fellow Mitsubishi Carisma GT driver Alex Fiorio, while Austria’s Manfred Stohl maintained his lead in the Group N World Championship with fourth position. Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Carisma GTs took the first 10 places in Group N and remain unbeaten in the class this season.

In an exact repetition of the Tour de Corse, Peugeot’s Gilles Panizzi and Francois Delecour romped home in first and second positions respectively to notch up the French manufacturer’s fifth win of the season. Maximum points for the two Frenchmen, who are not in the fight for the title, has kept the battle at the head of the leaderboard tight and, although Marcus Gronholm has extended his lead over Richard Burns to five points, the Briton is just one point ahead of arch rivals Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, both of whom are tied in third. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Peugeot has inched ahead of Ford, with Subaru and Mitsubishi maintaining their third and fourth positions with two rounds remaining.

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

The final leg took the contenders north of Sanremo and onto just one road that was run once in each direction. Hazy skies and warm Mediterranean temperatures again greeted the crews and, although today’s route was only scheduled to cover 41 competitive kilometres, the heat was on for Makinen to maintain his podium position. Rising to the challenge, the Finn was quickest through the first stage, setting a time 3.5 seconds faster than his nearest rival, to pull out an eight second advantage over fourth-placed Marcus Gronholm with one 15 kilometre stage left to contest. "We drove that one sensibly quick to protect our position", commented Makinen. Despite losing out to Gronholm in the final stage - which was run non-competitively for most of the competitors due to an accident involving Toyota driver Markko Martin - Tommi retained his third position, finishing nine seconds ahead of his compatriot. "It’s good to be back on the podium, it’s been a bit too long!" he added. "It’s much easier to go to Australia now with this good result. We hope to carry on going upwards from here".

Team-mate Freddy Loix was fifth fastest through the first stage, a mere four seconds adrift of Makinen, in his Mitsubishi Carisma GT. "We changed the suspension and front diff mapping last night and the car was much better", he commented. In the final stage, all but five drivers drove the section non-competitively, the volume of spectators making the stage unsafe for high speed competition, so the final positions remained unchanged.

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr.N G. Galli / M. Messina

"I’m a little bit disappointed with the rally", added Freddy. "We lost everything with the hard compound tyres yesterday which I had to take because we were wearing tyres so much. Fortunately our speed was ok, but we have to improve again".

As a result of the non-competitive runs for the bulk of crews through both today’s stages, the Group N runners didn’t contest a stage at full speed in the final leg. The result however confirmed Gianluigi Galli as Italy’s Group N king, as he completed his third successive victory on his home round of the World Championship. After a thrilling duel with Alex Fiorio, he took victory by just 36 seconds after well over 300 kilometres of flat out stages.

"It’s a shame we didn’t drive more today because it was a good battle with Alex, but I am very pleased to win again after such a difficult fight. The car has been really good," Galli stated.

Alex Fiorio showed the skills that made him Group N World Champion in the 1980s by setting the pace for much of the rally in his Carisma GT, but ultimately he couldn’t beat his fellow countryman.

Mitsubishi Carisma GT Gr.N G. Galli / M. Messina