KN04 WLZ was the penultimate car that started her life as a WRC04, and the numberplate shows that her registration (as well as KN04 WMA's) was quite after the first batch of cars made for the beginning of the season. Her career, however, is not nearly as long as KR53 YPO's for instance, and hasn't been seen since 2005... but later about that!
It all began for her on the 2004 Rally Argentina, where she was driven by the Panizzis. The result wasn't bad, as the crew finished in 7th place.
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2004 Rally Argentina (Mitsubishi) |
Her only other 2004 event was the Catalunya Rally, this time with Gigi Galli. Looks like she fancies number 7, as they finished in 7th again.
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2004 Catalunya Rally; the Castrol sponsoration was only for Galli (Mitsubishi) |
2005
Since she was relatively unused, she was selected to be converted immediately to WRC05 spec, and she was the car Rovanperä used on Rally Sweden. This time though, he managed to bring her home better than in 7th place as they finished 4th.
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Speeding through the not so thick snow, 2005 Rally Sweden (Mitsubishi) |
Next up was a long travel down to New Zealand, where her driver was again Rovanperä. Unfortunately they couldn't duplicate the Swedish result, as they had to retire on the road section after the last stage as they had two rear punctures.
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2005 Rally NZ (Mitsubishi) |
After NZ, she was brought back for the Rally of Turkey, and like before, was paired with Rovanperä. This event was unlucky as well as they had to retire on the first day with suspension damage; however, they restarted under SupeRally rules, and fought bach their way to 10th.
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Another unlucky event, 2005 Rally of Turkey (Mitsubishi) |
High hopes and pressure to bring a good result weighed on her and Rovanperä on Rally Finland. The car ran faultlessly, there were no tyre problems, but the speed just wasn't enough; they finished 7th.
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Another 7th place, 2005 Rally Finland (Mitsubishi) |
Her last recorded rally start was Mitsubishi's home event, the Rally Japan. This time though, Galli was her driver, and they were flying: they were winning stages, and lying 4th when Galli hit something with the rear of the car, and had to retire with suspension damage. Had he kept his position, he'd have finished 3rd because Solberg retired on the penultimate stage.
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On her last rally to date, the 2005 Rally Japan (Mitsubishi) |
Whereabouts
It is uncertain what happened to this car. After Rally Japan, it appeared on a Japanese TV series where it went against a touge Honda S2000, with gravel suspension and tyres, but most notably, without paddle shifters. Since the car was in Japan and Mitsu soon pulled the plug on the WRC program, it could be either destroyed, or in a museum, or even back at MML Sports.
Update 2020.02.01: She is back in Europe, and now with Tristan Bailey at MMR Rallysport! Soon there will be a Speedhunters article about Tristan and MMR Rallysport, with many gems now sitting in his workshop, including WLZ herself, so it will be more than worth checking out! ;)
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WLZ in the MMR Rallysport workshop in 2020 (Speedhunters / MMR Rallysport) |
Track record
Starts: 7
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Best result: 4th
(2005 Rally Sweden)
Retirements: 2
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