Tour de Corse - Rallye de France 1999
Friday 7 May
COMMUNIQUE 2

MITSUBISHI DETERMINED TO FIGHT
BACK ON CORSICA RALLY

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart is set to fight back after a tough first leg of the Tour de Corse, the sixth round of the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship. Minor problems have restricted World Championship leader Tommi Makinen to ninth place so far in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, with Belgium’s Freddy Loix 11th in his Mitsubishi Carisma GT. However, Mitsubishis are dominating the Group N production class, with Austria’s Manfred Stohl leading the way.

The Tour de Corse - the French round of the World Rally Championship - is renowned as the toughest asphalt rally of all and the 1999 event has been made more difficult with a top-class entry that includes cars from Citroen and Peugeot as well as Toyota, Ford and Subaru. Massive crowds have witnessed an enthralling battle on the Mediterranean island’s demanding roads, fought out in hot sunshine.

Triple World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen and fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki were slowed by brake difficulties at first, then by a helicopter flying close to the road on the day’s final stage. Currently lying ninth, they are little more than a minute behind the leader after well over an hour of special stages.

"Our Lancer is running very well now and tomorrow should be better. We are quite a long way behind, but this is a long rally and anything can happen", Makinen said.

Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have minimal experience of Corsica’s tough roads, but a determined performance during the afternoon in the Michelin-shod Mitsubishi Carisma shows real promise for the rest of the rally.

"We are working hard on the car and it’s going better. These are difficult stages with so many corners and I still need to learn", Loix explained.

"It’s been a bit of a struggle today and Tommi felt the car was not working as well as it had in the test. Freddy is doing what we would expect considering it’s effectively his first time here and has set himself up well", commented Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short.

Mitsubishis have already crushed the opposition in Group N and remarkably, they already hold the first eight places in class. Manfred Stohl is bidding to repeat his 1998 win in his Carisma GT, but triple World Champion Gustavo Trelles is hot on his heels and Corsican novice Hamed Al-Wahaibi from Oman is also fewer than 20 seconds behind in his similar Lancer Evolution.

The second leg of the rally takes crews over the top of the island into the tricky roads near Corte in central and northern Corsica. It includes another six stages, covering 125 kilometres, including the two longest stages of the rally.