Tough Leg For Mitsubishi
Panizzi forced into retirement

Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports has had a difficult start to the 2004
Uddeholm Swedish Rally and Gilles and Hervé Panizzi have
been forced into retirement while team-mates Kristian Sohlberg and Kaj
Lindström plummeted down the leaderboard this morning
and hold 34th in the second Mitsubishi Lancer WRC04.

The Swedish Rally got underway last night with a ceremonial start in the
center of Karlstad and, as ever, hundreds of
spectators were lured by the WRC fever in the frosty host town. This
morning however, the crews headed 85 kilometers north to
Hagfors, the base for all three days of the event and from where today's
five stages were run. The leg, totaling 145.80
competitive kilometers, also included two runs at the longest stage of the
rally, the gigantic 52.57 kilometer Granberget
where fans converge in their thousands, building fires and cooking food to
keep warm in the frozen forests. The weather has
however been the talking point of the rally, unseasonably warm temperatures
causing snow and ice to melt and significant
patches of gravel to appear on what should be deeply frozen roads covered
in thick snow.

Transmission problems have dogged Gilles and Hervé Panizzi throughout the
day and the team had changed the Lancer WRC04s
gearbox twice before the crew was finally forced into retirement in stage four.

"We had a problem this morning with fifth gear, so the team changed
the gearbox after the second stage", commented Gilles.
"Then we had a problem with fourth in the second 'box and we put the
original one back in the car. But then two kilometers
before the end of the fourth stage we had more problems, had to stop and
then the car wouldn't re-start. Our aim was always to
get to the finish so we can learn more information about the car, so from
that point of view it is a shame".

Team-mates Kristian Sohlberg and Kaj Lindström have also had a frustrating
day and the pair lost nearly five minutes in the
second stage when transmission related problems caused the wheels to lock
up. The Finnish Lancer WRC04 crew spun off the road
and was buried in a snow bank, dropping them way down the leaderboard. They
have however managed to climb from 63rd to 34th,
despite a couple of spins this afternoon.

"Five kilometers before the finish of the second stage I started to
brake and the wheels just locked up", commented Kristian.
"We went off the road and got stuck in a snow bank. All in all it has
been a tough day and it taught me a lot".

Adding to the drivers' comments, MMSP Technical Director Mario Fornaris
said: "After the successful result in Monte-Carlo we
are learning another new chapter in our comeback. The conditions here are
much harder and give us another challenge; we lost
Gilles with gearbox problems but Kristian is still here and can get more
data for the team and experience for himself".

The second leg of the Swedish Rally starts from Karlstad at 05:30 hrs and
includes another seven stages around the town of
Hagfors. It is the longest leg of the event with 152.40 competitive
kilometers and crews will have spent 14 hours behind the
wheel before returning for the overnight halt at 19:36 hrs.

News from our rivals...

Markko Märtin has taken the lead of the Swedish Rally, the Estonian Ford
driver claiming his advantage after setting fastest
time in stage three. His only woe of the day has been stalling at the start
of the second stage. Rallye Monte-Carlo victor
Sébastien Loeb is however pressuring Märtin from second while Petter
Solberg has climbed to third after losing time with a
spin in the second stage. Carlos Sainz holds fourth overnight ahead of
Janne Tuohino, who has been nominated to score points
for Ford in an M-Sport prepared Focus. Marcus Gronhölm had taken the early
lead in the Peugeot 307, but the Finn lost nearly a
minute with power steering failure in stage three. He is sixth overnight
with team-mate Freddy Loix 10th.

2004 FIA PRODUCTION CAR WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 1
Mitsubishi Drivers Take Top Five Places In Group N

Mitsubishi Motors drivers have made an excellent start to the Swedish
Rally, the opening round of the 2004 FIA Production Car
World Rally Championship. Finland's Jani Paasonen has taken complete
control of the field and holds a comfortable lead in his
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. In total, Mitsubishi drivers hold seven of the
top nine positions in the Group N category and of
the Production Car contenders lay first, third, eighth, ninth and tenth.

Jani Paasonen has not rallied a Production car seriously for two years, but
that didn't stop the Finn from extracting the full
potential from his Lancer Evolution and he rocketed into a commanding lead
in the Production Car World Rally Championship.

"We had a small problem with the intercom on the second stage, but
otherwise things are going well. We didn't test so much, so
I am very pleased with our speed today", said Paasonen, who set
fastest time in all five of today's stages.

Italy's rising star "Gigi" Galli put in an encouraging
performance on unfamiliar ground to hold third place in the
Championship classification in another Lancer Evolution.

"Everything is new for me, but it's good and we have no problems. We
need some time to adjust the car and there is still a
long way to go", Galli commented.

Mitsubishis are setting the pace of the Group N contenders outside the
World Championship classification too. The promising
Swede Matthias Ekström has a narrow lead and the enthralling battle between
the local heroes is becoming one of the highlights
of the rally.

"I made a stupid mistake with the tyres on SS3 and the pressures were
too high, so we lost grip, but otherwise everything has
been fantastic and we managed to catch the time we lost. I am looking
forward to tomorrow", Ekström said.

"To have five of our cars at the top of the leaderboard is
fantastic", commented Sven Quandt, MMSP's Head of Motorsport.

-mitsubishi-


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