Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Tommi Makinen will be aiming for his third successive Italian victory when the Rallye Sanremo, the 12th round of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship, starts on Friday. Makinen, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, will be ably supported by Belgium’s Freddy Loix, driving a Mitsubishi Carisma GT.

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

Mitsubishi has an extra Group A Carisma GT with former winner Andrea Aghini at the wheel. The gifted Italian, who drove works Mitsubishis in 1995, is likely to be one of the front runners in this, the last of three consecutive Mediterranean rallies.

Mitsubishi Motors drivers will also be aiming for another clean sweep of the top places in the Group N production car class. But, while Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Carisma GTs have an unbeaten record in Group N this season, predicting the winning crew is near-impossible with so many talented drivers taking part.

Italy’s top rally will be the most compact round of the World Championship ever. A new approach to designing the route means that a maximum of two sections of road will be used as special stages each day, generally in one direction in the morning and the opposite direction in the afternoon. It is designed to appeal to spectators, who can see the cars up to four times from one spot, while also making the rally safer. But it will certainly not make the event easier for drivers: bad weather in the past week means that the winding mountain roads are already very slippery in places. Repeated use will mean that increasing amounts of debris will be dragged on to the asphalt surface by constant corner-cutting.

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

Four-times World Champion Tommi Makinen and fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki are quietly optimistic after a useful pre-event test in their Lancer Evolution, and are hoping for better things after a promising but disappointing run on the Tour of Corsica was ended by an accident. Makinen felt the Tour de Corse didn’t show the car’s full potential and switched to softer suspension at the dry and sunny shakedown test northeast of Sanremo today.

"The surface is already slippery in many places. It is hard to tell what it will be like on the rally, but there was so much rain in the recce that it is bound to be difficult. Bad weather conditions would be good for us I think, but these are nice, flowing roads which I like anyway", Makinen stated.

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

Freddy Loix and co-driver Sven Smeets are in good form despite their major accident on the recent Tour de Corse and are hoping to live up to their fine Rallye Sanremo reputation in their Carisma GT. "We did a one-day test near Imperia just to get back some confidence and it was OK. We tested in the rain too, which I think will be quite useful this year. The car was working quite well. I think the new route is not so good, but it will be difficult for sure", Loix commented.

Manfred Stohl is almost certain to be one of the Group N front runners in his Mitsubishi Carisma GT and it could be an unforgettable weekend for the Austrian: a good result will take the World Championship leader a step closer to the title. "I have been thinking of the World Championship all year of course, but you have to try to concentrate just on the driving when you are on stages and this will be a very tricky rally this year with the weather and the stages being repeated so often. I think it will be a big fight", Stohl said.

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart Service Park