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Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart travel to Spain for the fourth round of the 2001 FIA World Rally Championship as the team to beat. Mitsubishi has a 13-point lead in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers and Tommi Makinen leads the Drivers title in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Makinen will be supported in Catalunya by Belgian star Freddy Loix, driving a Mitsubishi Carisma GT.
Although it has been part of the World Championship for only 10 years, Catalunya has long been classic rallying territory. It is fought out on challenging sealed surface roads that snake through the mountains around Sant Hilari and Vic, between the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees, Catalunya's capital, Barcelona and the seaside resorts on the Costa Brava. For the drivers, it is no holiday, for the stages test man and machine to the limit. The stages can also be slippery when wet, and provide a distinct contrast to the roads used in the second leg, west of Barcelona, which tend to be faster and more abrasive, punishing tyres. Since joining the World Championship, the rally has developed into one of Spain's great sports occasions. Carlos Sainz is treated almost as a god in his homeland and the hundreds of thousands of adoring local fans are joined by visitors from all parts of Europe, attracted by the rally's excellent reputation, the holiday atmosphere and the prospect of warm weather at the beginning of the Mediterranean spring.
Tommi Makinen has won two out of three events this season with co-driver Risto Mannisenmaki, but while the Finnish duo have every confidence in the Mitsubishi's performance on the year's first pure asphalt rally, they know the competition will be tough. Makinen has an impressive record in Spain always finishing in the top four in as many years.
"Our testing shows that the new rear suspension makes quite a difference on tarmac too and I am looking forward to the event very much. It will be difficult to win again though, because there are so many good cars and I think anything can happen," Makinen said.
Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart has had no time to celebrate victory in Portugal with a four day tarmac confirmation test in Spain for Makinen and Loix starting on Wednesday 14 March.
Belgian crew Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets spent their formative years contesting tarmac rallies and they have a strong record in Catalunya. They are looking forward to demonstrating the Carisma GT's potential.
"I like this rally very much and I hope we can build on the good start to the year the team has had. The car is definitely better and I feel more confident with it now," Loix stated.
"Tommi has made an excellent start to his Championship campaign this year. However, this is the first pure tarmac rally of the season and once again, we'll have to wait and see who is competitive. The French teams, Peugeot and Citroen, could be a real threat. I think everyone hopes we'll get a nice, dry, sunny event after Portugal, but Catalunya is being held earlier than usual and that means the weather could be worse," said Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager George Donaldson.
"We did quite a bit of testing over a month before the rally with Lasse Lampi and we've arranged another four days two for each driver in the run-up to the event. Tommi is very confident at the moment and can clearly win if things go well. With Freddy, we're looking for a points finish. What I'm interested in is a consistent development in his performance. I believe we're on track," Donaldson added.
For Mitsubishi's tyre partner Michelin the tarmac challenge is giving the driver a tyre with high grip and high resistance to wear. On the long and warm Spanish stages the Mitsubishi drivers will need to manage the wear by knowing when and where to push if they want to set the best times.
Based in the Mediterranean resort of Lloret de Mar as usual, the rally runs on March 23-25 and takes place entirely on tarmac. It covers 1,815 kilometres, with 18 special stages spanning 383 kilometres and many stages that are either new or run in the opposite direction to recent years. The first leg is the shortest running on traditional Catalan terrain north-west of Lloret, it includes six stages, totalling 101 kilometres. The second leg is by far the longest and four of its six stages near Tarragona cover more than 30 kilometres. In total, drivers face 163 kilometres of stages. There is still plenty of potential for change in the last leg, with another six stages closer to Lloret covering 118 kilometres.
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