The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen and Risto Mannisenmaki brought their Lancer Evolution back to Lloret de Mar this evening in a fighting fourth position. Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets lie seventh and are in the thick of a battle for fifth in the 37th Rallye Catalunya/Costa Brava.

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

In Group N, Mitsubishi Motors drivers are in complete control, with Uruguay’s four-times World Champion Gustavo Trelles leading the way in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Argentina’s Gabriel Pozzo in hot pursuit in a similar car.

Today’s route took the remaining 61 contenders to the southwest of Barcelona to the roads around Tarragona for a scheduled six special stages and 163 competitive kilometres. However, with the cancellation of the final stage - due to safety reasons because of the volume of spectators - one of the longest days in the World Rally Championship was cut shorter. In contrast to yesterday, the roads around Tarragona are much more abrasive and, while still dry, posed a threat to tyre wear and tear in ever increasing temperatures. Michelin is however winning the tyre war with all the leading crews, as Pirelli’s highest runner is currently fifth. On asphalt rallies, brake cooling is another significant factor because, typically, the braking materials can run at between 700 and 750 degrees Centigrade. Without effective cooling, performance deteriorates significantly.

Tommi Makinen has been pushing hard today, but the mighty French manufacturers, who excel on the surface adopted for their national championship, continue to hold the leading three positions. And, after all the controversy surrounding Jesus Puras, the Spaniard was ultimately forced into retirement from second position this afternoon with a lack of fuel pressure in his Citroen Xsara. Makinen is however now in a position to fight with asphalt expert Gilles Panizzi, the Peugeot driver holding a mere 12 second advantage going into the final day of competition.

"We’ve been pushing very hard today, even too much in places", commented Tommi. "The corners are very slippy and it’s very difficult to find the same speed as the French cars on Tarmac. It was our target to try and catch Gilles Panizzi today but, with the cancellation of the final stage, we need to put that off for tomorrow. It seems very difficult at the moment as everyone is driving very fast and at times we are wondering what the cars in front are doing with the tyres. It seems we were on the same ones, but it’s working a bit better for them at times, I think".

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

Mitsubishi Carisma GT team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets continue to put in a fine performance in one of their favoured events. The Belgians held sixth until Carlos Sainz and Francois Delecour powered their Ford’s ahead, but the trio are locked in a battle and split by just three seconds at the end of a day when thousands of fans have once again witnessed world-class action.

"There’s been a lot of gravel on the stages but it’s the same for everybody", said Freddy. "We’re pushing very hard to try and get back ahead of the Ford boys, but they’ve been a bit quicker. It’s not over yet and we hope we can find the same speed as yesterday".

Adding to their comments, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager George Donaldson said: "It’s been a tough day but we’ve performed consistently. We knew it would be hard here, but this is the World Championship - we never thought it would be easy. Road conditions tomorrow are totally different and we’re back to something we were very comfortable on yesterday. Freddy’s in a fantastic battle and both he and Tommi will continue to fight for points-scoring positions".

Gustavo Trelles has unmatched experience of driving Group N Mitsubishis and he has used that experience to brilliant effect to pull out an impressive category lead over his rivals on the longest leg of the rally.

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