I wrote that KR02 DLZ might be the most used chassis of the Evo WRCs; well, yes, it is the one that is in the worst shape, but not the most used: this title goes to KR02 DLY, because she was entered 30 times (as of 2013. september) into rallies around the world! It is not typical to these cars, to say the least... Also, she is Chassis number 14, but technically the 13th Lancer WRC built... yes, they thought it was better to step over (un)lucky 13 (maybe they were right?).
She started her life as a pure asphalt car, debuting on the 2002 Deutschland Rallye in the hands of Francois Delecour. As this was the Step2 cars' first tarmac outing, it was unsure what they could do; however, despite the narrow roads favouring the smaller French cars (Subaru, the best big car at the time, was also struggling to get into the top six), Delecour did some reasonable times, almost winning a stage on day 2. The effort earned the crew a 9th place, which was nice looking at the fact that neither Mäkinen, nor Sainz was able to clinch drivers points...
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| Finally, the car showed some promise on tarmac... (motorsport.com) |
Her next event was the famous Sanremo Rally, again with Delecour. The performance was good, as he was fighting with the Fords, but the turbo piping came loose twice, costing them a better finish. Yet, despite the troubles they finished 10th.
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| Nothing could beat the French cars on tarmac (motorsport.com) |
She was present at the closing round of the 2002 Championship, the Rally GB, still with Delecour. The crew was struggling, and eventually crashed out following a bad pace note call.
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| This pic sums up what Rally GB is all about... (motorsport.com) |
Whereabouts
There was no sign of this car whatsoever until 2008, when MSR Motorsport pulled it out of somewhere, and started to rally it all over Great Britain, with Charlie Payne as her driver.
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| With Charlie Payne, 2008 (Ian Hardy) |
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| She was a lot better treated than DLZ, fortunately (Ian Hardy) |
In 2010 she was sold to Henk Vossen, who completely refurbished the car, but he was facing heavy shortage of spare parts, such as even the bumpers... Nonetheless, he's done 8 rallies so far with her before putting her up for sale in 2012. These events included the car's return to the Deutschland Rallye, 8 years after debuting on the very same event. There's no info if he could sell the car or not.
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| As "Mean Green", during the 2010 ELE Rally (Jan Borger) |
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| Back to the roots? 2010 Deutschland Rallye |
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| En route to 4th place, 2010 Euregio Rally (Jan Borger) |
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| TankS Rally 2011 (Jan Borger) |
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| Tarmac tyres, gravel, 4WD - what more do you need? 2011 ELE Rally (Jan Borger) |
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| On her last rally to date, the 2011 Exotic Green Rally (Jan Borger) |
Update: She was bought by Jari Latvala (Jari-Matti's father, who has a special love for ex-works Lancers... we will touch that subject when I get through writing the IVs), who entered two rallies with it so far: the 2. Kärla Rally and the 2013 Rally Estonia; on the Kärla, he finished second behind a Group N Evo IX, but retired with cooling problems on the Rally Estonia (well, a roll he had might have had a say in that...).
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| On the Kärla Rally, returning to gravel after a 4-year hiatus (Allair Echfuss) |
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| Charging hard, 2013 Rally Estonia (Janis Asaris) |
Update #2: since her last showing she was painted back to red, and Latvala finished second with the car on the ADMV Lausitz Rallye 2013.
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| Jumping to 2nd overall, 2013 Lausitz Rallye (motorsport-magazin.com) |
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2015
After missing out on the entire 2014 season, Jari Latvala brought her to the Arctic Rally. This return didn't end well, as they had to retire after an accident.
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| 2015 Arctic Rally (Actic Rally Facebook) |
2016
After one and a half years on the shelf, the car returned on the Latvala family Rally Day, driven by none other than Jari-Matti himself! The car looks and sounds good, and if they decide to use it on events like this only to preserve it, I'm perfectly good with it.
Track record
Starts: 32
Wins: 2
(2009 Riponian Stages & Trackrod Rally 2009)
Podiums: 5
(2009 Riponian Stages, Trackrod Rally & Dukeries Rally, 2013 Kärla Rally & Lausitz Rallye)
Retirements: 8
I have been thinking what is the story behind this car. This is quote from Latvala motorsport website about the car: "The Car doesn't have competition history because it was reserve car of Mitsubishi WRC factory team. The Car is still identical to other factory cars."
VálaszTörlés