Rallye de Portugal 1999
Saturday 20 March
COMMUNIQUE 1

MITSUBISHI LANCER IN EXCELLENT SHAPE FOR
RALLY OF PORTUGAL

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart has high hopes of re-asserting its dominance in the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship when the fourth round, the Rally of Portugal, begins on Sunday. A powerful, all-Finnish line-up comprising World Rally Championship leader Tommi Makinen in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Marcus Gronholm in a Mitsubishi Carisma GT gives the team an excellent chance of its seventh win in eight rallies.

Portugal is one of the traditional highlights of the World Championship Rally, with millions of spectators thronging the tough loose-surface stages winding through the woods and hills in the north of the country. As the first conventional rally of the season, the result is eagerly awaited as a guide to future events.

Makinen - who won the event in 1997 - and co-driver Risto Mannisenmaki are full of confidence, despite their Safari Rally disappointment.

"After what happened on the Safari, we will not be slower for sure!" Makinen said. "Maybe the first day it is not easy to be first on the road, because of the gravel, but you never know what can happen here".

Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen tried the Carisma GT for the first time the day before the rally and are determined to finish.

"I have some experience here: I have retired three times, so it is time to finish the rally! This is a good chance for me to drive such a good car, but I shall take it a bit easy to start with," Gronholm said.

"The weather has been good for about a week, which has hardened the roads, so it could be a disadvantage running first, " warned Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Phil Short. "Tommi is obviously in a strong position as the championship leader, whereas it will be more of a learning experience for Marcus. We’re sure that he is more than capable of scoring points".

Mitsubishi is mounting a strong challenge in the Group N production category with Lancer Evolutions or Carisma GTs for stars such as triple World Champion Gustavo Trelles of Uruguay, Austria’s Manfred Stohl, Oman driver Hamed Al-Wahaibi , who scored a superb Safari Group N victory.

"This is only the second rally that I am doing for the second time, so I feel quite good about it. I’m sure it will be rough. We hope to be on the pace after the Safari good result", Al-Wahaibi said.

The four-day, 1809-kilometre rally, based in Porto, begins with a spectator stage, two cars at a time, at a specially constructed track at Baltar.