MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION DRIVERS WIN THE PRODUCTION CAR WORLD AND BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Andreas Aigner (Austria) has won the Production Car World Rally Championship (PWRC) after one of the most thrilling rounds of the series ever on Wales Rally Great Britain.Aigner’s fellow Mitsubishi driver, Guy Wilks (United Kingdom) has won a second consecutive British Rally Championship at the wheel of his Lancer Evolution. The event finished in Cardiff this afternoon after another exceptionally tough day’s rallying in the south-Wales forests.

With overnight temperatures sinking as low as minus six degrees, the stages in the Neath Valley, north-west of the event’s Millennium Stadium base in Cardiff, were as tricky as anything the drivers had been faced with on this event. During the recce today’s Rheola and Port Talbot tests (which would be run twice, totaling 96 competitive kilometers) were almost ice-free and in the best condition. Today, however, they were at their slippery best.

Both Aigner and Wilks were determined not to make any mistakes. Both had spent the entire rally driving with their championship aspirations at the forefront of their minds. And both delivered perfectly, collecting podium results along the way.

Aigner was delighted with his maiden Production Car World Rally Championship title. He said: “It’s incredible. This has been such a tough event, but the Mitsubishi has come through without any problems. Like all of the season, this car has been fantastic. Yesterday we had a spin in stage 14 and so last night, I thought: “Okay, be sensible. All of this can easily disappear.” So today, we take a very sensible approach. We are not taking any risks. I know I have to be on the podium and that is all I am driving for. And now we have it. We have the championship. Incredible. There were so many retirements on this rally, it was so tough. But we’re here.”

Wilks echoed those sentiments, adding: “British champion again. That’s a job well done. This hasn’t been the easiest rally by a long way. All of the time the conditions have been changing, it’s been a really tough one. We’ve had a few problems along the way, but this has been a good year and we’re champions for the second time that’s what we wanted when we started this season.”

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution drivers collected five of the top-10 Group N positions more than any other manufacturer. This once again demonstrated the performance and consistency of the Lancer Evolution, a car which has broken all World Rally Championship records for its string of victories. Prior to Wales Rally GB, the Mitsubishi had won Group N on the last 15 rounds of the series in a run of domination which stretched back more than a year.

In the overall standings of Wales Rally GB, Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb (France) won the event, beating Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) in a final-stage thriller. Dani Sordo (Citroen, Spain) was third on the event.
 FIA PWRC  CLASSIFICATION
Pos Driver
Co-Driver		 Nat Vehicle Grp
Pos		 Total
Time		 Diff
Leader
1 Patrik Flodin
Goran Bergsten		 S
S		 SUBARU IMPRZA WRX STI N
1		 2:56:01.3 **:**:**.*
2 Andreas Aigner
Klaus Wicha		 A
D		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
2		 2:57:43.4 1:42.1
3 Guy Wilks
Phil Pugh		 GB
GB		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
3		 2:58:09.0 2:07.7
4 Jari Ketomaa
Miika Teiskonen		 FIN
FIN		 SUBARU IMPRZA WRX STI N
4		 3:00:48.2 4:46.9
5 Jaromir Tarabus
Daniel Trunket		 CZ
CZ		 FIAT GRANDE PUNTO S2000 N
7		 3:08:18.6 12:17.3
6 Spyros Pavlides
Steve Lancaster		 CYP
GB		 SUBARU IMPRZA WRX STI N
10		 3:21:19.3 25:18.0
7 Armindo Araujo
Miguel Ramalho		 P
P		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
12		 3:24:53.9 28:52.6
8 David Higgins
Leuan Thomas		 GB
GB		 SUBARU IMPRZA WRX STI N
13		 3:28:17.8 32:16.5
9 Bernardo Sousa
Jorge Carralho		 P
P		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
15		 3:30:00.7 33:59.4
10 Simone Campedelli
Danilo Fappani		 I
I		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
23		 3:51:56.1 55:54.8

 OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
Pos Driver
Co-Driver		 Nat Vehicle Cls Total
Time		 Diff
Leader
1
M		 Sebastien Loeb
Daniel Elena		 F
MC		 CITROEN C4 WRC A
1		 2:43:09.6 **:**:**.*
2
M		 Jari-Matti Latvala
Miikka Anttila		 FIN
FIN		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
2		 2:43:22.3 0:12.7
3
M		 Daniel Sordo
Marc Marti		 E
E		 CITROEN C4 WRC A
3		 2:44:30.2 1:20.6
4
M		 Petter Solberg
Philip Mills		 N
GB		 SUBARU IMPREZA WRC 2008 A
4		 2:45:09.2 1:59.6
5
M		 Per-Gunnar Andersson
Jonas Andersson		 S
S		 SUZUKI SX4 A
5		 2:47:13.7 4:04.1
6
M		 Francois Duval
Denis Giraudet		 B
F		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
6		 2:48:17.4 5:07.8
7
M		 Toni Gardenmeister
Tomi Tuominen		 FIN
FIN		 SUZUKI SX4 A
7		 2:48:34.6 5:25.0
8
M		 Mikko Hirvonen
Jarmo Lehtinen		 FIN
FIN		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
8		 2:48:48.4 5:38.8
9
M		 Matthew Wilson
Scott Martin		 GB
GB		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
9		 2:51:23.5 8:13.9
10 Barry Clark
Paul Nagle		 GB
GB		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
10		 2:53:02.7 9:53.1
11
P		 Patrik Flodin
Goran Bergsten		 S
S		 SUBARU IMPRZA WRX STI N
1		 2:56:01.3 12:51.7
12 Valentino Rossi
Carlo Cassina		 I
I		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
11		 2:56:30.0 13:20.4
13
P		 Andreas Aigner
Klaus Wicha		 A
D		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
2		 2:57:43.4 14:33.8
14
P		 Guy Wilks
Phil Pugh		 GB
GB		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
3		 2:58:09.0 14:59.4
15 Conrad Rautenbach
David Senior		 ZW
GB		 CITROEN C4 WRC A
12		 2:58:30.9 15:21.3
16 Khalid Al Qassimi
Michael Orr		 UAE
GB		 FORD FOCUS RS WRC 07 A
13		 2:58:33.8 15:24.2
17
P		 Jari Ketomaa
Miika Teiskonen		 FIN
FIN		 SUBARU IMPRZA WRX STI N
4		 3:00:48.2 17:38.6
18 Gwyndaf Evans
Gareth Roberts		 GB
GB		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
5		 3:03:12.8 20:03.2
19 Steve Perez
Pual Spooner		 GB
GB		 FORD FOCUS WRC A
14		 3:03:50.3 20:40.7
20 Hermann Gassner Junior
Katherina Wuesttenhagen		 D
D		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
6		 3:07:11.6 24:02.0
../
22 Ryan Champion
Anders Howard		 GB
GB		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
8		 3:10:51.2 27:41.6
25 Mattias Therman
Janne Perala		 FIN
FIN		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
11		 3:21:42.2 38:32.6
27
P		 Armindo Araujo
Miguel Ramalho		 P
P		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
12		 3:24:53.9 41:44.3
31
P		 Bernardo Sousa
Jorge Carralho		 P
P		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
15		 3:30:00.7 46:51.1
35 Deividas Jocius
Mindaugas Varza		 LT
LT		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
17		 3:41:58.2 58:48.6
42
P		 Simone Campedelli
Danilo Fappani		 I
I		 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX N
23		 3:51:56.1 1:08:46.5

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

ARCHIVES