Oldalak

2014. december 23., kedd

KX05 AUR

KX05 AUR is one of the last cars Mitsubishi built during their WRC tenure, competing on only 3 rallies in factory colors. She began her career as a gravel car, and except for a stint on Irish tarmac competition, she's still a gravel car, used in the French Gravel Championship.
So, her first rally was the Sardinia Rally, with Rovanperä. They were 4th after the first and 3rd after the second day, and looked to be getting the better of Grönholm in the fight for 3rd, but then hit a rock and broke the right front suspension, and they had to retire.
2005 Sardinia Rally (Mitsubishi)
 Her next event was the Acropolis Rally, again with Rovanperä. After a drama-free run, they finished 6th, although 3m44s off the winner.
2005 Acropolis Rally (Mitsubishi)
Her third and final full works appearance was Mitsubishi's home event, the Rally Japan. The rally was overshadowed by the recent tragic death of Michael Park, but it was still a very important showing for the team. Rovanperä drove her again, and this time, they finished 5th, and took some stage wins along the way.
2005 Rally Japan (Mitsubishi)
2006
After Mitsubishi's withdrawal from the WRC, she was at Monte Carlo for 2006's season opener, with ex-works driver Gigi Galli. So, what happened? Well, Mitsubishi UK, Ralliart Italy and Galli's sponsors put togerther the money and effort, and it was a good decision: he was very fast until a broken gearbox forced him to retire.
2006 Rallye Monte Carlo (Petr Lusk / ewrc.cz)
After this, her path took a very interesting turn: Daniel Carlsson appeared with her on the Rally Ireland, which was a WRC candidate event (and joined the WRC in 2007 for a short time). Now, this start is interesting as what the motive behind it might have been. Either Ralliart UK (later MML) hoped that Mitsubishi might turn their decision around after the strong start to the 2006 season, and went there as a preparation for 2007, or they wanted to rent/sell cars out to Ireland, as it was -and still is- a huge survival island for the WRCs, new and old. Either way, the entry to the Irish scene went decent, as Carlsson finished 3rd.
2006 Rally Ireland (Patrick Hegarty Photography)
After this, Andrew Nesbitt, a multiple time Irish Tarmac Champion drove her on the Donegal International Rally and the Cork International Rally - both legendary Irish events. He won in Donegal (in front of Mark Higgins and KN04 WMC), but retired in Cork. After this, she was put on the shelf and wasn't seen in competition until the April of 2014...
2006 Donegal Int. Rally (crspics.com)
2014
In the spring of 2014 came the news that Cyrille Féraud -with support from MML Sports- will run a Lancer WRC in the French Gravel Championship. It was said that he bought WMC and AUR, but so far, he has only used AUR (although it's hard to judge, as in France there are no numberplates on rallycars during events). The reality might be that he only bought AUR. Anyways, their first event together, the Terre des Causses, didn't go well, as he slid wide, and hit a tree, and as a result had to retire.
2014 Rallye Terre des Causses
They entered the Terre de Langres next, and this event went much better: although still relatively new to the car, Cyrille finished 5th behind a C4, a Xsara, a Fiesta and a 207 S2000. Not bad at all!
2014 Rallye Terre de Langres (www.david-gianios.com)
Next up was the Terre de l'Auxerrois, their third rally together, and the improvement was visible, as they finished 4th, but more importantly, only much better cars finished ahead of them (a Fiesta WRC and 2x C4).
2014 Terre de l'Auxerrois (Gérard Simenel / rallye-sport.fr)
For the next event, she was back on tarmac for the first time in 8 years. Cyrille has never driven a Lancer WRC on tarmac, so this was a learning event. They finished 4th after little hiccups, missing out on the podium by just 4.3 seconds.
2014 Pays de Fayence (nanseven)
Their penultimate rally of the season was the Terre des Cardabelles. They finished 5th after a couple of problems (e.g. puncture), but were competitive, even setting top3 stage times.
2014 Terre des Cardabelles (midilibre.fr)
The last event of the French Gravel Championship was the Rally du Vaucluse. The conditions were trecherous, as days of rain made the stages really muddy with a lot of standing water. Cyrille did really well, but two punctures and a stall meant he had to settle for 4th. Still not bad!
2014 Terre de Vaucluse (Jean-Marie Caranta / rallye-sport.fr)
2015
The car returned to action with Cyrille on the Rallye National du Pays de Fayence. They had a good event and eventually won in a close fight with Anthony Puppo's Fabia S2000.
2015 Rallye National du Pays de Fayence (Jean-Marie Caranta / rallye-sport.fr)
2016
She returned with Cyrille on the Rally Terre des Causses. Unfortunately, they were excluded because the homologation of the seats have expired.
Rallye Terre des Causses 2016 (Bastien Roux / rallye-sport.fr)
Their unlucky start to the season didn't end on the Rallye Terre du Diois. They had a huge competition from WRCs and R5s alike. They were 11th after five stages and on the move up, but they crashed out on the next stage.
Rallye Terre du Diois 2016 (Bastien Roux / rallye-sport.fr)
Whereabouts
As of 2014, Cyrille Féraud uses the car, mainly in the French Gravel Championship. It is unclear if he bought the car or he's leasing it, either way, currently he plans no change for 2015.

Track record
Starts: 15
Wins: 2
Podiums: 2
  • 2006 Donegal International Rally
  • 2006 Rally Ireland
  • 2015 Rallye National du Pays de Fayence
Retirements: 6
  • 2016 Rallye Terre du Diois (accident)
  • 2016 Rallye Terre des Causses (excluded)
  • 2014 Rallye Terre des Causses (accident)
  • 2006 Cork International Rally
  • 2006 Rallye Monte-Carlo (gearbox)
  • 2005 Rally Italia Sardinia (suspension)

2014. december 13., szombat

KP54 GXY

GXY is a very important car in the WRC04/05/07 lineup, as she was the first Mitsubishi that saw a podium of a WRC event since W9 MMR's win in the 2001 Safari Rally; this happened on the 2005 Rallye Monte Carlo with Gilles Panizzi. Interesting note: this was Gilles's last, and Mitsubishi's penultimate podium finish on a WRC rally - possibly ever...
2005 Rallye Monte Carlo (Mitsubishi)
 Her next rally was the Corona Rally Mexico, again with Panizzi. Despite the fact that Gilles has never been too good on gravel, and the problems they encountered, 8th place and points for the team was not a bad achievement.
A bit worn - 2005 Corona Rally Mexico (Mitsubishi)
Her last event with Panizzi was the Cyprus Rally - where the previous year neither Lancers was able to reach the finish. The carbreaker of the championship (alongside Acropolis) was difficult for the cars again; GXY was slowed by engine and transmission problems, but the Panizzis were able to finish, and claim the final manufacturer's point.
2005 Rally Cyprus (Mitsubishi)
After Cyprus, she was switched to be Galli's car, and was brought to Argentina. They were doing well, but a gearbox failure stopped them from scoring points.
2005 Rally Argentina (Mitsubishi)
 Next up was Wales Rally GB, the team's home event. She was Galli's car again, and they held their ground pretty well (7th), until the Margam Park stage where Michael park died. They finished the event 13th.
Wales Rally GB 2005 (Mitsubishi)
She ended the season -and her career as an official works car- in Australia, again with Galli. This event was much better for the entire team, as Rovanperä finished 2nd, and Galli 5th. But they didn't know then that this was their last works drive for Mitsubishi...
Telstra Rally Australia 2005 (Mitsubishi)
2006
She survived into 2006, where she was used with some other cars for drivers as "semi-works" entries. Example of that is the 2006 Rally Sweden, where she was used by Daniel Carlsson, and had a huge fight with Galli - who was driving KR05 ZKL! In the end, Carlsson defeated Galli by 7 seconds to claim his and GXY's first WRC podium.
2006 Swedish Rally (Mitsubishi)
Carlsson returned to the car for the then-candidate for the WRC Rally Norway. However, this outing didn't go too well, as they crashed out. Carlsson did one more event with the car, the Rally Finland. This started well (the car has always been slower in Finland compared to the top teams), and were fighting for 5th place. However, on the last serious corner of the day, they ended up in a tree, damaging the carr too bad to continue or SupeRally.
2006 Rally Finland (Mitsubishi)
2007
She only had one start in 2007, that with PWRC regular Armindo Araújo on his home rally. He wasn't driving bad, and was in 11th position when he slid off the road on the penultimate stage. This was to be the last start for the car until 2010.
2007 Rallye de Portugal (Mitsubishi)
2010
In early 2010, she was bought by Bert de Jong, a Dutch and Belgian Championship regular with lots of experience and speed. This was a beginning of a 3 year partnership that ended too soon when Bob lost his long fight against cancer in late 2012. But let's start where it all began, at the 2010 Rally Haspengouw. The Belgian and Holland Championships were literally filled with the newest WRCs at that time, and dispite the fact that the car was new to Bert, they finished 7th.
Rally van Haspengouw 2010 (MenM Rally Team)
Next up was the Tank S Rally, this time back on home ground. This was when the Mitsubishi invasion took place (Vossen with KP51 RWO, Bob with GXY, and Westenbrink with YPP). They finished 9th after a lot of problems and a 2 minute time penalty.
2010 Tank S Rally (MenM Rally Team)
The next two rallies (in Wallonie and the Ele Rally) didn't go too well, as they had to retire both times due to mechanical failure.
Rallye de Wallonie 2010 (MenM Rally Team)
But their luck turned around just in time for the Exotic Green Rally as they were involved in a 3-way fight for the win with Swaanen and van Loon. In the end, they finished 2nd after Swaanen's 1min penalty, 26 seconds behind Swaanen's Focus WRC08.
Exotic Green Rally 2010 (MenM Rally Team)
Their next event was none other that the Deutschland Rally - and marked the return of a Lancer WRC to the WRC, and in Vossen's case (who started with KR02 DLY), it was almost a decade since that kind of car was entered! It was the Lancers' final farewell to the WRC, as nobody entered another one of them for the remainder of 2010, and after the regulations change, there's simply no point. (And here I don't count i.e. Tristan Bailey's start in the Wales Rally Nationals). After all, this rally was for fun, and they came home with a 21st place finish.
Deutschland Rally 2010 (MenM Rally Team)
They closed the season with the Hellendoorn Rally, and did it in fine style, finishing 4th, ahead of younger cars.
Hellendoorn Rally 2010 (Flickr)
2011
They started the 2011 season in Belgium again, contesting the Rally van Haspengouw again. In 2010, they finished 7th, but this year they were excluded.
Rally van Haspengouw 2011 (www.bfo-brc.be)
They continued with the TankS Rally back in the Netherlands, and faced heavy opposition: 2x S14 and an S12 Imprezas, a Fabia WRC (and well, not a heavy opponent, but Vossen and KR02 DLY). They were in a fight for 3rd place, but eventually finished 5th.
2011 TankS Rally
For the next event, they returned to Belgium for the TAC Rally, which was a championship round for the BRC and the Dutch Championship as well. After a lot of problems, they finished 16, but more importantly, 4th in the Dutch classification.
2011 TAC Rally Tielt (www.menmrally.nl)
Next up was the Paradigit ELE Rally, where they've always done well, and 2011 was no exception: they finished 3rd, the best result of their season, achieved against a 2008 Focus WRC, an S14 and an S12 Impreza, and a Fabia.
2011 ELE Rally (MenM Rally Team)
The 5th round of the Dutch Championship was the Exotic Green Rally. They were competing for the podium, but first an overshoot, and on the next stage after hitting a kerb and losing the brakes and collecting a puncture, they lost 4 minutes and were 24th. They fought back, but 6th was the best they could manage.
2011 Exotic Green Rally (MenM Rally Team)
The penultimate event of the season was the Hellendoorn Rally, and it usually is the meeting of the one-rounder big guns, such as Merksteijn or Kuipers, who entered a C4 and a Fiesta respectively. So, against huge opposition, it was no wonder that the aging Lancer couldn't really keep up, finishing 5th, but 5 minutes behind the winning C4.
2011 Hellendoorn Rally (www.rallysport.nl)
They closed out the 2011 season with the Nederland Rally. After fighting all event long, they missed out on a podium finish by 7 seconds to Eric Bolhaar.
2011 Nederland Rally (MenM Rally Team)
2012
2012 proved to be their last season together. The first event was the TankS Rally, where they did particularly well against the usual stronger cars (Fiesta WRCs, S14 Impreza), and finished 3rd.
2012 TankS Rally (MenM Rally Team)
They followed this with a couple of months away from the stages, but returned on the ELE Rally, and did it in fashion, as they collected their second podium finish of the season.
2012 ELE Rally (MenM Rally Team)
The next rally was the Exotic Green Rally, and unfortunately, they had to retire due to mechanical problems. However, Bob de Jong with KR53 YPO did finish 3rd.
2012 Exotic Green Rally (MenM Rally Team)
The 7th round of the Dutch Championship -and the 4th they contested in 2012- was the Omloop van Vlaanderen in Belgium. After the retirement on the previous round, they finished 8th overall, and 4th in the Dutch classification.
2012 Omloop van Vlaanderen (MenM Rally Team)
Bert's penultimate rally was the Hellendoorn Rally. This year was not different, as "one-rounders" like Merksteijn entered with much younger cars than the Lancer. Contrary to that, they finished 5th, right behind Bert's son, Bob and YPO, after fighting through the whole rally.
2012 Hellendoorn Rally (MenM Rally Team)
Bert's last event was the Rally Land van Altena, with new sponsor, Merwede Springs. This was a new event, with stages run in the same region as the infamous BAC Rally, last contested over 20 years ago. Bert, a former champion and with a lot of experience, was able to manage the tricky conditions well, and was closing in on the leading Focus WRC08, when they slid off the road on the penultimate stage, and due to the wet grass, they couldn't get back onto the road, and were forced to retire.
2012 Rally Land van Altena (MenM Rally Team)
Whereabouts
After this, Bert could never return to the stages, and sadly passed away on the 13th of August, 2013. His death was a big loss to his family, the Dutch rallying and the Mitsubishi community as well. Rest in peace.
His car hasn't been seen ever since. Bob put up his car and a red chassis (#4) for sale, but there's no news about GXY.
Update 2015: Dick de Graf put up the aforementioned red chassis #4 for sale, built up as a 07 spec WRC. What's interesting is that the numberplate it has is KP54 GXY. Either it was misread from #14, or somehow the GXY plate got on the #4 chassis, which is supposed to be  KX53 BFV. I'll try to get info on this soon.
The supposed C004 with GXY plate (DDG Motorsport)
2019
The car looks to be with Michael Ehrle in Germany, alongside S33 TMR and KP51 RWL.
At Autoservice Ehrle (Michael Ehrle facebook)
Track record
Starts: 31
Wins: 0
Podiums:
Retirements: 9