MITSUBISHI AIMS TO INCREASE
WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD ON RALLY OF PORTUGAL

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart intends to capitalise on its flying start to the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship season on the fourth round, the Rally of Portugal. Its all-Finnish team consists of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution for triple World Champion Tommi Makiinen and a Mitsubishi Carisma GT for rising star Marcus Gronholm.

Freddy Loix will not be competing in this year's Portugal Rally. Following his accident on the Safari Rally, Belgian doctors have advised him to rest for four weeks. His fitness for Catalunya will be assessed at that time.

The Rally of Portugal is traditionally one of the highlights of the season. Held in early spring, it is easily the country's most popular sports event and spectators throng the route in their millions. Few rally fans can match, let alone surpass the Portuguese for enthusiasm and the atmosphere is electric as the drivers tackle the winding, difficult hill roads, hurrying through small villages with cobbled streets, or attempting a varied range of stages on dirt roads. The classic stages - Arganil, Fafe, Celorico do Basto - are part of rallying folklore, the setting for memorable duels between the world's top drivers for a quarter of a century or more.

World Rally Championship leader Tommi Makiinen was a convincing winner for Mitsubishi in 1997 and, co-driven by fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki, he is eager to score his third win of the year in the dominant Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, widely recognised as the car to beat.

"It's important, because it's really the first normal event of the season. It's really the first rally where your car has to be set up for the best performance possible - the suspension and everything. The stages are not so easy. It can be very difficult to find the right line on narrow roads with bushes at the side. You have to trust your pace notes," Makinen said.

Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen are standing in for injured Belgian Freddy Loix, but although this will be their first rally in a Mitsubishi Carisma GT, the young Finnish crew have a formidable international reputation and led in Portugal last year.

"This is a very good opportunity for me. I have been doing a lot of testing lately, so it will be great to be driving in a rally again, especially in a car like the Mitsubishi. I will be driving in Portugal to help Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart, not to do my own thing," Gronholm promised.

"We've worked hard to improve the set-up of our cars. Our Portuguese test was affected by fog, but our engineers are confident that we have made improvements. I think we go to the rally with a very strong team: Tommi is a past winner and Marcus has made quite a name for himself," said Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short.

"Portugal is an important rally, because the three previous rounds of the World Rally Championship are so specialised. This is the first contest that gives a guide to the rest of the season. Some of the stages, particularly those in Arganil, are very hard on the car and the tyres. The stages further north tend to be sandy, which can make tyre choice difficult," he added.

Mitsubishi will also be a top contender in the Group N production category. Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles, co-driven by Argentina's Martin Christie, has been Group N World Champion for the past three years in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. He will certainly be the favourite, but he will face strong opposition from recent Safari Rally winner Hamed Al-Wahaibi from Oman, Manfred Stohl from Austria, Gianluigi Galli from Italia, Jouko Puhakka from Finland and Pernilla Walfridsson from Sweden who have put their faith in the strength and performance of Mitsubishi Lancer and Carisma GT showroom technology.

The rally is based once more in the historic northern city of Porto, on the River Douro. Running from March 21-24 and returning to Porto each night, it covers 1,809 kilometres, with 23 special stages totalling 399 kilometres. The first leg is a compact loop towards Portugal's northern border, with nine stages spanning 159 kilometres. The second leg is the longest and toughest, heading south to the notoriously demanding Arganil stages. Its 10 stages cover 180 kilometres. The third and final leg is much the shortest, but more than long enough to spring a surprise. It includes another 60 high-speed kilometres divided into four stages before the ceremonial finish in Porto.

ITINERARY