Tour de Corse Rallye de France 1999
Wednesday 5 May
COMMUNIQUE 1

MITSUBISHI CONFIDENT OF ENDING
CORSICAN RALLY JINX

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart is ready to end its run of bad luck on the Tour de Corse, Rallye de France, the sixth round of the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship, which starts on Friday 7 May. It has a formidable two-car entry consisting of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for the World Championship leader Tommi Makinen and a Mitsubishi Carisma GT for Belgian Freddy Loix.

The Tour de Corse is held on much more twisty roads than the recent Catalunya Rally and the weather is far less predictable, making tyre choice difficult. It is so specialised that in 42 years, it has been won by just six non-French drivers.

It has not been kind to Tommi Makinen in the past, but Mitsubishi’s triple World Champion is looking forward to the rally with fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki and he predicts that the Michelin-shod Lancer will be highly competitive.

"This is the kind of rally I like: it is narrow and bumpy - more difficult. Maybe the French drivers know the stages well, but the rest of us don’t and that’s nice. It means you can make some small mistakes and still be fast", Makinen stated.

Although Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have little experience of the Mediterranean island’s exceptionally demanding roads, Loix believes he can bring his Carisma GT home in the top six and score points.

"For sure Corsica is more difficult than Catalunya, mainly because I haven’t been here for a few years. There are only two and a half stages the same. Finishing in the points, is the main thing", Loix said.

"We have been in the hunt for the last two years and been robbed by ill luck. It’s time our luck changed and Tommi is in full agreement. He doesn’t have a mental block about this event - he just needs a clean run. Freddy last did this rally in 1995, so it’s going to be difficult for him. As in Catalunya, my concern is just that he brings it home and does the full trip", declared Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short.

An impressive 140-car entry includes no fewer than 17 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Carisma GTs in the Group N production class, including all the likely front runners. The favourites are Uruguay’s Gustavo Trelles, Austria’s Manfred Stohl, Oman’s Hamed Al-Wahaibi and Frenchman Philippe Rognoni. Additional interest comes from the return of Peugeot, which becomes the first French manufacturer to build a World Rally Car.

The 1,077-kilometre rally starts on Friday morning with a loop of eight stages, totalling 139 kilometres, south-east of the island’s capital, Ajaccio.