The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki have retained joint lead in the FIA World Rally Championship after the Tour de Corse, round 12 of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets finished the French round of the series in 12th position, having lost time in the opening leg, but showed the potential of the Lancer Evolution in the second half of the event.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Loix / S. Smeets

Mitsubishi Motors drivers extended their phenomenal unbeaten record in the Group N production car class with another clean sweep of the leading positions. Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Gustavo Trelles presented Mitsubishi with its 27th consecutive success at World Championship level, with Mitsubishi drivers also finishing second and third.

Jesus Puras took outright victory in the Citroen Xsara and, in doing so, claims his first ever World Championship win. However, in the series’ standings, Richard Burns is the only driver to benefit, the Briton finishing fourth overall to elevate himself into third position. With Tommi Makinen retiring, and Colin McRae finishing down the order, the two retain their lead but the fight between Makinen, McRae, Burns and Sainz is intense and, with only nine points separating them, the fight will surely go to the wire in Australia and then Great Britain.

The final leg took the crews over four stages and 111.68 competitive kilometres today and, while reports yesterday suggested bad weather on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, conditions remained stable for the first two stages. However, in the last two, the crews were stranded on dry weather tyres as the wind whipped up and heavy rain fell. Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart has however continued to make progress with the new Lancer Evolution WRC and Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets set top times in all these stages.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Loix / S. Smeets

"We made a major step forward yesterday and our performance in the last three stages of leg two and the first two this morning proved that", said Freddy. "It was a lot harder in the last two stages because the rain was falling really heavily and we were on slick (dry weather) tyres, but it was also useful to see how the car performed. In the end we had a good feeling and we have achieved a lot of work here, but now we can look ahead to the final two gravel rounds".

Adding to his comments, Derek Dauncey, team manager said: "We had a difficult first day, losing Tommi, and Freddy’s problems with the two punctures meant that this event turned into a development test for us. However, we used the opportunity to improve the car in all areas and we’ve come away with some very good settings. We’re very pleased with both Freddy’s and the team’s performance, there are definite improvements over Sanremo, and we still have everything to fight for in both Championships".

Uruguay’s Group N star Gustavo Trelles made no mistakes today, finishing his 100th World Championship rally in tremendous style to make sure of a comfortable victory in his trouble-free Lancer Evolution.

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