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Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Tommi Makinen has won the World Rally Championship for an amazing fourth successive year in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (subject to FIA confirmation). Makinen cruised to third position on the Telstra Rally Australia to clinch the 1999 FIA World Rally Championship with a round in hand. Freddy Loix in his Mitsubishi Carisma GT backed Makinen up with a fourth place, while Gustavo Trelles is Group N World Champion, also for the fourth year running.

Makinen needed only to finish third to clinch the title after Toyota's Didier Auriol retired and he was able to cruise through the four stages of the final leg in Bunnings Forest, south-east of Perth. Large crowds were present, keen to see Makinen break rally history, as well as a close battle for victory between Richard Burns and Carlos Sainz. Burns eventually won the event with Sainz finishing second to clinch the manufacturers' title for Toyota (subject to FIA confirmation).

Tommi Makinen, co-driven by fellow Finn Risto Mannisenmaki, has led the World Championship all season and he has also won twice as often as any rival, with four wins to his credit. A matchless display of consistency and speed has confirmed Makinen and the Michelin-shod Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution as the most successful combination of car and driver in World Rally Championship history.

"It's unbelievable, just fantastic. I am so happy. This is a difficult and sometimes dangerous rally, because the surface changes so much and it still wasn't easy. This is a great result for me, Risto and all the Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team. I would like to thank everybody in the team, I could not do this without their great support," Makinen stated.

Belgian duo Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets are improving with every rally as they come to grips with the Mitsubishi Carisma GT and fourth place was their best result in Australia.

"I'm very pleased to finish just behind Tommi after a year that hasn't been easy. It was very important to bring the car to the finish and it's been a very special week for Mitsubishi. Well done to Tommi and Risto, they are incredible," Loix said.

Mitsubishis have dominated the Group N class this year, in which Lancer Evolutions and Carisma GTs consistently set the pace. Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles has matched Makinen's extraordinary feat by claiming a fourth World Championship, all of them in Mitsubishis. Second place went to another Lancer Evolution driver, Oman's Hamed Al-Wahaibi.

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart will be in action again in less than two weeks on the last round of the World Rally Championship, the Rally of Great Britain, which starts on November 21.

POSITIONS AFTER STAGE 23 (END OF DAY FOUR)