The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have made significant inroads on the Tour de Corse leaderboard today, the result of considerable progress on the development of the Lancer Evolution WRC. From an overnight 32nd they now hold 14th position, demonstrating the potential of the car when they set a time that was a mere 5.8 seconds off multiple stage winner, asphalt ace and current rally leader for Citroen, Jesus Puras.

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

Mitsubishi Motors is nearing its 27th successive Group N production class victory in the FIA World Rally Championship thanks to a fine performance from Uruguay’s Gustavo Trelles in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Despite tricky conditions that have caused a considerable number of retirements, Mitsubishi drivers continue to hold five of the top six places in the production category.

Today’s second leg took the remaining 71 contenders over seven special stages and 155.55 competitive kilometres of tortuous, twisty mountain roads and, unlike yesterday, conditions were changeable. As crews got caught on dry weather tyres when the rain intensified in the middle group of stages, some benefitted, powering through the streams of water running down the roads, while others struggled for grip, losing precious time in the slippery, leaf-strewn stages. While Puras leads, and Peugeot hold second and third positions with Gilles Panizzi and Didier Auriol respectively, Ford driver Colin McRae has dropped down the order with power-steering problems this afternoon and, as a consequence, Tommi Makinen looks set to hold onto the Championship lead for Mitsubishi going into Rally Australia, the penultimate round of the series.

With the amount of time lost in the opening leg, Freddy Loix is now using the event as a competitive test and development session. And, as his stage times improved - including fifth fastest in stage 10 - so he and Sven Smeets powered through the leaderboard.

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

"We changed some of the transmission and suspension settings last night and the feeling in the car was better", said Freddy. "We concentrated on the transmission and once we were happy with that, began working on the suspension to try to improve the car further. We can take better lines and attack more now, and bit by bit we are definitely moving forward".

Adding to Freddy’s comments, chief engineer Bernard Lindauer said: "The car’s getting better and better after each service. The changes we made before the start of the rally were clearly a move in the right direction, but the limited amount of time at shakedown meant we couldn’t finalise the settings. But we’re obviously pleased we’re getting closer to the pace, and I’m also sure Tommi could have got a good result here had he not had his accident".

No driver has a better record in Group N than Trelles, who has won the world title four times for Mitsubishi. In conditions that demanded restraint as well as skill, the vastly experienced South American swept into a clear lead in his Lancer Evolution as the local drivers faltered.

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