AUSTRALIA PRE EVENT RELEASE/MITSUBISHI MOTORS/2001 WRC

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Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart heads for the 13th round of the 2001 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Australia, determined to press home its title challenge with World Championship leader Tommi Makinen and Belgium’s Freddy Loix, both driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRCs. Mitsubishi also hopes to maintain its phenomenal record of success in the Group N production car category.

Rally Australia is invariably one of the highlights of the rally season, a spectacle as well as a competition. Based in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, it is usually held in hot, sunny conditions and draws vast crowds to the renowned, purpose-built Langley Park super special stage beside the Swan River in central Perth, in which cars compete side by side on a figure of eight circuit. The rally is won and lost in the forests though, and Western Australia’s are notoriously demanding. They are very fast, often narrow and always slippery. A unique covering of fine gravel like ball bearings requires superb car control from the drivers and precise choice of tread pattern from the tyre companies. It also means that the starting order for each day is critical and a new system, in which the fastest drivers choose their starting positions, is being introduced this year.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
T. Makinen / R. Mannisenmaki
(Photo Rd.12 2001 Tour de Corse)

Finns have long thrived on this rally and Tommi Makinen has won it twice before with Mitsubishi. It is one of his favourite events, but this year’s will be a new challenge, as it will be the first event for the new Lancer Evolution WRC on loose surfaces. In addition to the furious battle for the World title which is now raging between Makinen, Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Carlos Sainz - the four split by just seven points with two rounds remaining - there is still a fight on to clinch the unprecedented 24th World Championship rally victory. Makinen, McRae and Sainz and are all in the running, although Makinen and McRae undoubtedly have the edge with Rally Australia wins already under their belts.Tommi Makinen also has a new co-driver in Timo Hantunen, who is stepping in while Risto Mannisenmaki recovers from a back operation after the Tour de Corse. Highly experienced, Hantunen has competed on motorcycles and in boats as well as rally cars, notching up a total of 120 victories on two and four wheels".Australia is always a good event and I am looking forward to it. We have to get a good result for the World Championship this year and our test before the rally will be very important. I think the car can be good and it is time we had some luck", Makinen stated.

Belgian team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have a strong finishing record this year and intend to make the most of the latest, Michelin-shod Lancer Evolution WRC.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart
F. Loix / S. Smeets
(Photo Rd.12 2001 Tour de Corse)

"Australia is a very nice event and it is important for us to learn more about the new car. Mitsubishi has a very good chance in the World Championship for Manufacturers and I hope it will be possible to score points", Loix stated.

Mitsubishi Motors will start Rally Australia, the penultimate round of the 2001 FIA World Championship, with an unbeaten record in the Group N production car class and every chance of extending its winning run. The favourites are driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Mitsubishi Carisma GTs, but they face strong opposition and it is impossible to predict a winner on such a tough and unpredictable event.

Australia is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of the World Championship. Fast, highly demanding stages in the forests circling Western Australia’s main city, Perth, are combined with the Langley Park super special, which attracts huge crowds to witness top drivers competing side by side on the banks of the Swan River. It is a rally that the drivers relish, but one that permits little margin for error.

One of the favourites is sure to be Argentina’s newly crowned Group N World Champion Gabriel Pozzo, driving a Lancer Evolution. Despite limited experience, he has proved quick and adaptable in all conditions.

"I don’t know the Rally Australia so well and it is a difficult rally, because it is so fast and so slippery. They are tough stages, but I will try to do my best", Pozzo said.

Austria’s Manfred Stohl, the 2000 Group N World Champion will drive a Carisma GT and is eager to make his mark on one of the most testing rallies for a driver.

"It will be good to be back in a Mitsubishi again. Australia is never an easy rally and there is a lot of opposition, but I think we have a good chance and I shall be doing my best", Stohl commented.

One of the men to beat is sure to be Australia’s Ed Ordynski, who has easily the best record in Group N on his home round of the World Championship and will drive a Lancer Evolution.

"It will be nice to compete against international opposition again. I hope we can give them a run for their money", Ordynski said.

The drivers to watch also include Argentina’s Marcos Ligato and Italian Giovanni Manfrinato in Lancer Evolutions, as well as 1984 World Champion Stig Blomqvist and Finn Juha Kangas, both in Carisma GTs and Australian star Spencer Lowndes in a Lancer Evolution.

The rally begins on 1 November with the first run at Langley Park, but the meat of the 1,402-kilometre event is concentrated into the following three days. The first leg is the longest, resuming on 2 November with another nine stages. All told, it offers 147 kilometres of flat out driving, most of it in the forests due east of Perth. The second leg heads south towards Collie and Bunbury and includes just seven stages, covering 141 kilometres. Nearly all of them are long, amongst them the longest stage of the rally, the 45-kilometre Wellington Dam test. The final leg is the shortest, with four stages, but they cover 105 kilometres and, on past form, the result will remain in doubt until the finish is almost in sight.