Rally New Zealand 1999
Thursday 15 July
COMMUNIQUE 2

MITSUBISHI CARISMAS AND LANCERS WELL PLACED
ON NEW ZEALAND RALLY

Mitsubishi Carisma GTs and Lancer Evolutions are neck and neck with the leaders after the first stage of the Rally of New Zealand, the ninth round of the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship. Freddy Loix, in seventh place, is under a second ahead of World Championship leader Tommi Makinen who lies tenth overnight.

Heavy rain greeted competitors at the popular Manukau special stage, making the crowd-pleasing 2.1-kilometre test treacherously muddy and slippery. It could be a foretaste of things to come, with more rain promised when the first leg resumes on Friday morning. The leader is Subaru driver and local hero "Possum" Bourne.

Belgians Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets made an encouraging start to their first Rally of New Zealand, forcing their Michelin-shod Carisma GT into seventh place, close behind the leader.

"That stage surprised me. It was difficult. You could go to a corner and you couldn’t see any mud but then the car would slide a lot. The important thing was not to make a mistake with most of the rally still ahead of us", said Loix.

Triple World Champion Tommi Makinen and fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki did well to hold 10th place in their Lancer Evolution, as they were the last crew to start the stage and experienced the worst of the weather conditions. However they are already leading their main World Championship rival, Didier Auriol.

"It was slippery of course, but I am sure I lost a bit of time, because of the rain. It looked as though it would be in quite good condition, but then it suddenly started raining very hard just as we were going to start the stage and when you have a hard surface like that, it turns to mud very quickly. It was really like ice", reported Makinen.

"Both drivers have made a safe start to the event and that is important at this stage", said Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short.

Mitsubishi is leading the Group N production class - the toughest test of showroom machinery - thanks to Japanese driver Fumio Nutahara, driving a Lancer Evolution, with New Zealander Ross Meekings third in another Lancer Evolution.

The first leg will continue tomorrow with another nine stages south of Auckland near Raglan, totalling 139 kilometres.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER SS 1