China Rally 1999
Friday 17 September
COMMUNIQUE 2

MITSUBISHI LANCER HOLDS THIRD ON CHINA RALLY

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Tommi Makinen lies in an encouraging third place after the first leg of the China Rally, the 11th round of the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship. Mitsubishis are also featuring strongly in the Group N production category, maintaining four of the top six places.

The rally is part of the World Championship for the first time and today’s leg has provided plenty of excitement and all kinds of surprises for the fascinated villagers in the mountainous farming country north of Beijing. In often damp and muddy conditions, both Fords retired with suspension damage on the same corner of the very first stage and Seat driver Piero Liatti failed to finish the leg due to mechanical trouble.

Tommi Makinen and co-driver Risto Mannisenmaki set an electrifying pace to grab the lead in their Michelin-equipped Lancer Evolution on the second stage. The Finnish duo were pulling away from their rivals at a spectacular rate until Makinen misjudged a tightening corner on SS5 and hit a tree. Brilliant work by the Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team repaired the damage and kept him in contention.

"I am a bit disappointed to have made this mistake, because it was going so well and we were leading by over half a minute, but there is still a long way to go and I think we can keep our World Championship lead. These stages get very rough when you do them for the second time and we lost some time making tracks in the mud for the others", Makinen said.

Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets lost time getting past Colin McRae’s Ford on the first stage, but they were fighting hard to catch up when they went of the road and retired their Mitsubishi Carisma GT on SS7.

"It is a shame, because we were making some improvements on the car and I was hoping for a good result here. We have not been so lucky. I will now look forward to the next event in San Remo", Loix stated.

As usual, Mitsubishi is figuring strongly in Group N, with World Championship contenders Hamed Al-Wahaibi from Oman and Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles battling for supremacy. Al-Wahaibi holds second place in his Lancer Evolution with Trelles fourth in his similar car.

In the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Japan’s Yoshihiro Kataoka was driving for a finish that would make him champion on the final round, but was unlucky to retire when his Lancer Evolution stopped near the end of SS7. He could still be champion, as he can only be beaten by another Mitsubishi driver, Katsuhiko Taguchi.

The second leg runs north-west of Huairou and is centred on Nian Zi. It includes a further eight stages, covering 148 kilometres.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 1