China Rally 1999
Thursday 16 August
COMMUNIQUE 1

MITSUBISHI CONFIDENT OF NEW SUCCESS IN CHINA

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart is exploring new ground on the 11th round of the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship, the China Rally, but has every chance of success with Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and championship leader Tommi Makinen, backed up by Belgian team-mate Freddy Loix, driving a Mitsubishi Carisma GT. Mitsubishi is also the clear favourite to win the Group N production class.

The China Rally is joining the World Rally Championship for the first time and is the only round of the series in Asia. It is a new and exciting experience for nearly all the top teams and drivers, but Mitsubishi can draw on past experience from the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally, which the team won with the Lancer Evolution.

Co-driven by fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki, triple World Rally Champion Makinen sees no reason why he shouldn’t win at the first attempt in China in the Michelin-equipped Lancer Evolution.

"They are very difficult, narrow roads and there is no room at all to make a mistake. I have never been to China before, but I am quite confident. I have a lot of experience from other Asian countries and I think this rally will be quite similar. Some of the stages are fast and some are very twisty, but there are many rocks at the side of the road", he stated.

Like Makinen, Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets are also newcomers to China, but the Carisma GT crew are on the same footing as almost everyone else, as the rally qualifies for the World Rally Championship for the first time this year.

"There are some nice stages and also some that are not so nice, but taking everything together I am happy to be here. It will be a new experience for nearly all of us and I think it will be a very interesting rally", Loix commented.

Mitsubishi is expected to taste more success in Group N, when Lancer Evolution drivers Gustavo Trelles of Uruguay and Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi renew their season-long duel, with Japan’s Katsuhiko Taguchi sure to be offering a challenge.

The rally is also the deciding round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and presents a great opportunity to Japan’s Yoshihiro Kataoka, driving a Lancer Evolution. A finish will almost certainly guarantee that he joins the long list of Mitsubishi drivers to have won the series.

The rally covers 1,423 kilometres and is divided into three legs, running in the picturesque mountains north of Beijing, near the Great Wall. Recent heavy rain has made the stages much rougher than in the past and the first leg could easily be the toughest, as it includes no fewer than 151 kilometres of stages.