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After winning two of the first four rounds, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart has high hopes of further success in the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship on the fifth round, Spain's Catalunya Rally. A formidable line-up consisting of triple World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Belgium's rising star Freddy Loix in a Mitsubishi Carisma GT makes Mitsubishi one of the teams to beat.
The Catalunya Rally is the newest World Championship rally in Europe, and one of the most popular. Held entirely on tarmac in the picturesque north-east of Spain, it attracts millions of fans, all just as keen to see the visiting stars as their national hero Carlos Sainz. It's a searching test of cars and tyres as well as the drivers. While some of the special stages are twisty and slippery, many of them are extremely fast and the likelihood of dry weather not only makes the rally even quicker, but imposes a real strain on tyres.
World Championship leader Tommi Makinen has a history of putting on spectacular performances in Catalunya and took a superb victory for Mitsubishi in 1997. Co-driven by fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki, he is aiming for his third win of the year in the pace-setting Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and is bursting with confidence.
"We had a very good test for this rally in the south of France. We have some small changes for the car and I am really looking forward to the rally. I like driving on tarmac and I think our Michelin tyres will be very strong," Makinen said.
Catalunya marks the return to the team of Belgian Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets after Loix was injured on the Safari. He has made a swift recovery and will be one of the drivers to watch, considering he finished second last year.
"It will be good to be back in a rally car again, especially on a rally I like. It is important to finish of course, but I think Tommi has shown that the Mitsubishi is very good on tarmac," Loix said.
"Tommi is very enthusiastic about the progress we've made in recent testing and of course he has won here in the past. Freddy's Safari accident was obviously a setback and it will be difficult for him to recover his full form immediately. I'm sure he will be fit enough to put in a good performance ," stated Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short.
"There are some new stages this year, which will provide a fresh challenge for the drivers and the second leg, south-west of Barcelona, is likely to be the toughest. The stages there tend to be more abrasive, which makes them hard on the tyres and more demanding from a driving point of view ," he confirmed
Mitsubishi drivers will also be the favourites in the Group N production category, which is dominated by Lancer Evolutions and Carisma GTs. Uruguay's Gustavo Trelles, co-driven by Martin Christie of Argentina, has been Group N World Champion for the past three years in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and he will be hard to beat, but there will be no shortage of strong opposition, with many rivals also relying on high performance Mitsubishi cars. Among them, Safari Rally winner Hamed Al-Wahaibi, from Oman, Finn Jouko Puhakka, winner of the category in Sweden, Manfred Stohl and Kris Rosenberger from Austria, Reece Jones from New Zealand, as well as Pernilla Walfridsson from Sweden.
The rally is based in the holiday resort of Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava. It begins on April 19 and covers 1,713 kilometres, including 19 special stages totalling 396 kilometres. The first leg is set around Vic and Girona on six stages that have long been part of the route, totalling 135 kilometres. The second leg heads south and west, with another six stages, including a 45 kilometre stage-the longest of the rally. Drivers face 169 kilometres of stages altogether before returning to Lloret de Mar for a night's rest. The final leg takes place on April 21 and consists of another five stages, covering 91 kilometres before the finish on Lloret de Mar's seafront.
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Copyright 1999 by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.