P33 MRE was very much like her sister P3 MRE - both were heavy gravel cars, debuted on the very same event, although their luck and fate could not be any different. As the double digits after P show, this wasn't Mäkinen's car, it belonged to Richard Burns. Their first event together was the 1997 Safari Rally, where they missed out on the win by a slight margin. But that's still a second place on the world's toughest rally!
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Jumping to 2nd on the Safari (Mitsubishi) |
Her next WRC event was the Rally Indonesia, which also counted for the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Burns' main focus that year was on the APRC). The rally was eventful for the crew, but after all the difficulties Burns could secure a 4th place.
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It must be interesting to drive at 200kph in the middle of a tropical jungle... (Mitsubishi) |
As a heavy-gravel and long-haul car, her next appearance was at the Rally Australia. Winfield stepped in as a sponsor, so the cars were red (but not Marlboro red!). After swapping places continuously throughout the event with the first four, Burns finished in 4th place; he was a bit disappointed, but it was a great performance against his opposition consisting 4 World Champions.
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In Australia, they barely missed out on a podium (Mitsubishi) |
1998
She finished off her career in great style - one year after the 2nd place at the Safari, she returned to the event, again with Burns. The Lancers were the class of the field - unfortunately, P3 MRE didn't want to carry Mäkinen to the finish, but the win by the Burns/Reid/P33 trio eased the team's sadness. That's right, she won on her very last WRC rally.
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En route to the win, 1998 Safari Rally (Mitsubishi) |
Whereabouts
Actually, she is one of the very few Evo IVs that survived beyond their use as a Safari Rally recce car, and she was built back to original shape. She was on display and also did some doughnuts at the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed, although that show-off was overshadowed by the fact that she was on display because of Richard Burns' death in late 2005; she was one of the cars that Richard drove and were on display. She is on of the cars in Andrew Cowan's private collection.
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At the 2006 GFOS (fareham.org) |
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GFOS 2006 |
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On display at the 2006 GFOS |
Track record (WRC)
Starts: 4
Wins: 1
(1998 Safari Rally)
Podiums: 2
(1998 Safari Rally & 1997 Safari Rally)
Retirements: 0
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