The Mitsubishi world rally team has fitted new rear suspension systems to its Lancer WRCs in a bid to challenge for a podium finish on this weekend’s Rally Argentina.
The Mitsubishi world rally team has fitted new rear suspension systems to its Lancer WRCs in a bid to challenge for a podium finish on this weekend’s Rally Argentina.
The introduction of the new rear suspension follows previous suspension modifications to the Lancer on the Swedish Rally and the fitment of an active centre differential for the Mexican Rally.
“We will be introducing an evolution on the rear suspension for this rally and hopefully the new geometry will increase performance, handling and speed,” the team’s rally engineer Roger Estrada said on Tuesday. “But the key features of Rally Argentina are the altitude, the winter conditions and the water splashes.”
Wet conditions are expected on the high-altitude stages in the mountains above Cordoba, which could be an advantage to teams using Pirelli tyres, such Subaru – and Mitsubishi!
“Argentina is a good rally with lots of spectators, great food and steaks in particular!” said lead driver Harri Rovanpera. “The stages are quite soft, with gravel not stones, although some stages are a little bit rough. In some ways, some of the stages – in places – are quite similar to Turkey this year. I think it will be a particularly good event for our tyres and hopefully it will stay dry and not too hot. My feeling now is that we perhaps fight more closely with the leaders; it can be a very interesting rally I think.”
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi motorsport boss Isao Torii says that Italian Gigi Galli will almost certainly be one of the Japanese team’s drivers in 2006. Galli has emerged as one of the rising stars in the WRC this year following some notable performances on graval rallies in the first half of the 2005 season.
Galli is likely to contest all the remaining eight rounds of this year’s schedule, including the asphalt rallies in Germany, France and Spain to gain further experience ahead of a more senior role in the Mitsubishi team next year.
French asphalt ace Gilles Panizzi is likely to drive a third car on these events, although he will almost certainly be nominated for manufacturers’ championship points thanks to his greater experience and points-scoring potential on such events.
“We want to make Gigi our champion,” Torii told magazine this week. “Last year we had three young drivers and Gigi gave the best performance. This year he has been the same. He is the one we want in 2006.”
