K7 MRE

K7 started her competition life in 1993, on the Acropolis Rally, alongside K6 MRE, with Armin Schwarz piloting her. They had a very strong debut event, as they finished 3rd, recording a stage win and five 2nd fastest times along the way.

Acropolis Rally 1993 (Olivier Delhez / ewrc.cz)

1994

She only returned on the 1994 Acropolis Rally, again with Schwarz, now as an Evo II specification car. They had a great rally again, winning 5 stages and finishing 2nd on 9 stages! They received a 2min penalty after the last stage, but they still had enough gap to Kankkunen to finish 2nd.

Acropolis Rally 1994 (rallyazores.blogspot.com)

1995

She began the season as a test car for the Monte Carlo Rally.

Pre-event test, 1995 Rallye Monte Carlo (youtube.com)

Next up was the Swedish Rally, where she was paired with Mäkinen. They had a good fight with their team-mate Eriksson, and ultimately had to hand over the victory to them after team orders.

Rally Sweden 1995 (McKlein / www.dirtfish.com)

Her next event was the Tour de Corse, this time with Andrea Aghini, and now as an Evo III. Ralliart had high hopes for Aghini, and he delivered: after one stagewin, five 2nd places and a big battle with Sainz throughout the event, they finished 3rd overall!

Tour de Corse 1995 (rallymemory.blogspot.com)

Also during the season, she was also used again as a test car:

During testing, 1995 (facebook)

Whereabouts

She did not compete as K7 MRE again, although that doesn't mean that she was not used again with a different numberplate or for testing.

Track record

Starts: 4

Wins: 0

Podiums: 4

• 1993 Acropolis Rally: 3rd (Schwarz-Grist)
  
• 1994 Acropolis Rally: 2nd (Schwarz-Wicha)
  
• 1995 Rally Sweden: 2nd (Mäkinen-Harjanne)
  
• 1995 Tour de Corse: 3rd (Aghini-Farnocchia)
  

Retirements: 0

K6 MRE

K6 MRE -alongside sister car K7 MRE- made her debut at the 1993 Acropolis Rally, and their debut also marked the first appearance of the Evo II specification (new rear spoiler, revised front bumper, new sumpguard and other bits) cars. She was piloted by Kenneth Eriksson, but unfortunately their rally came to an end when the sumpguard gave way, and lost all oil from the engine.

Acropolis Rally 1993 (Rallysport Stockphoto / RSSP)

Next up for her was the Rally Finland, or as known then, the 1000 Lakes Rally, this time with Armin Schwarz. Armin has always been a better tarmac driver, and the car wasn't good enough yet to challenge in Finland, so they finished 9th overall.

1000 Lakes Rally 1993

1994

With Mitsubishi still committing only to a part-time programme, K6 returned on the Acropolis Rally, reuniting with Eriksson.They did pretty well, won 4 stages and was well in a points-scoring position when the suspension collapsed and they had to retire.

Acropolis Rally 1994 (McKlein)

1995
For 1995, K6 was in action again on Rally Sweden with her usual driver, Kenneth Eriksson. Rule changes (smaller turbo restrictor most importantly) favoured Mitsubishi, and after a good showing in Monte Carlo, they dominated this event, with Eriksson and Tommi Mäkinen leading through all of the event. However, due to team orders, Mäkinen slowed down on the final stage to let Eriksson pass him, and land Mitsubishi's and the Lancer Evolution's first win in the WRC.

Rally Sweden 1995 (LAT Photographic / Motosport Images)

Rally Sweden 1995 (juwra.com)

Whereabouts
Unlike the other Evo II's fates, K6 MRE's migh have been a bit different, as Andrew Cowan's museum has an Evo II with Rally Sweden 1995 stickers on... And it would be quite difficult to believe that neither him, nor Ralliart would have put away the first winning Lancer.

Track record
Starts: 4
Wins: 1

• 1995 Rally Sweden - Eriksson/Parmander

Podiums: 1
Retirements: 2

• 1993 Acropolis Rally - engine
• 1994 Acropolis Rally - suspension

KNY70-HA7863

This car is very interesting, as this one was a Ralliart Japan car - RHD, different roof scoop, mirrors and sumpguard, etc. The car made its debut on the 1993 Safari Rally under the Mitsubishi Oil banner, with none other than Kenjiro Shinozuka. The event went badly though, as they had to retire after engine trouble not even halfway into the rally.

Safari Rally 1993 (Mitsubishi)

In 1993, contesting the APRC was Ralliart Japan's job, and so their next event was the opening round, the Rally Indonesia. Not much is known of this event, but Shinozuka finished 2nd, behind Possum Bourne's Subaru Legacy.

Next up was the Rally of Malaysia. This time around, they finished 3rd, behind Colin McRae and Possum Bourne.

The car's final event of the season was the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally. They couldn't beat the Subaru Legacy trio of Vatanen, McRae and Bourne, and finished 4th.

Hong Kong-Beijing Rally 1993 (en.responsejp.com)

1994
They returned for the 1994 Safari Rally, which was the original Evo I's last appearance as a works car. They fared a lot better in 1994 than the year before though, and ended up in 2nd behind Ian Duncan's Toyota Celica.

Safari Rally 1994 (Mitsubishi)

Next up was the Rally Indonesia, with the car now converted to Evo II. They finished 3rd this time, little consolation to that was the fact that team-mate Kenneth Eriksson took the victory, with Possum Bourne 2nd in the Mitsubishi sandwich.

Ralliart Japan ended the season with the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally. They finished 4th.

Hong Kong-Beijing Rally 1994 (Classic Rally instagram)

1995
In 1995, they returned with the usual lineup, the only thing changed was the car, now sporting the Evo III updates. They had a rough event, but finished 2nd behind Yoshio Fujimoto's Toyota Celica.

Safari Rally 1995 (internet)

Whereabouts
After the 1995 Safari - and occasionally even before that - Shinozuka started using Ralliart Australia's cars (more on that later), and on the 1996 Safari Ralliart Japan had a new car (at least a car with different numberplate, but likely it was a different car). Of the APRC rounds back then, there's very little info available, so...

Track record
Starts: 8
Wins: 0
Podiums: 5

• 1993 Rally Indonesia
• 1993 Rally of Malaysia
• 1994 Safari Rally
• 1994 Rally Indonesia
• 1995 Safari Rally

Retirements: 1

• 1993 Safari Rally - engine

K5 MRE

K5 MRE -alongside sister car K4 MRE- made her debut on the 1993 Rallye Monte-Carlo with Armin Schwarz and Nicky Grist (for a little story on the cars' livery, take a look at K4 MRE's story). They were doing quite well, but transmission problems cost them a lot of time, but they eventually rallied back to 6th position.

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1993 (Martin Holmes / rallylife.cz)

She returned to action in Portugal, again with Schwarz. They had a disastrous first day with losing a wheel, and an accident on the road section before SS13 put them out of their miserable rally.

Rally de Portugal 1993 (Pinterest)

Her next event was the 1000 Lakes Rally, this time with Kenneth Eriksson. The cars were a step behind the competition (mainly caused by the centre differential, which was switching torque between the front and rear axles whilst airborne, making the car unstable after landing), made apparent by the fact that Eriksson managed to win only one stage out of 35. They finished in 5th position though, earning precious points for Mitsubishi and themselves as well.

1000 Lakes Rally 1993 (Olivier Delhez / ewrc.cz)

Her final event of the season was the RAC Rally. Held in trecherous conditions that year (snow in Wales, ice in Kielder, etc.), the stages took their toll. Still piloted by Eriksson, they fell back initially, but fought their way back to 2nd by the end of the rally. It was quite a good result considering the lost time on the first day.

NetworkQ RAC Rally 1993 (pistech.karoo.net)

1994
It was not until the Sanremo Rally that K5 MRE returned to the WRC as an Evo II (in the meantime, she could have been used on some APRC events, like Malaysia or Indonesia, as there are little to none info on them events), and back with her was Armin Schwarz. Their reunion didn't end well, as they had to retire due to a fire. Before that, they won two stages.

Sanremo Rally 1994 (facebook)

Sanremo Rally 1994 (forocoches.com)

Update: before the event, a car with K5 MRE numberplates was used for testing. It would surprise me of this was the actual car they used was the same as this, but maybe yes, who knows...

Ralliart testing before the 1994 Rally Sanremo (Andrea Bruschettini)

Ralliart testing before the 1994 Rally Sanremo (Andrea Bruschettini)

1995
During the next season, she was back again - albeit only for the final event, the RAC. Mitsubishi was in a (bit hopeless) fight with Subaru for the championship, and K5 had a new driver (and Evo III specification), namely Tommi Mäkinen. Mitsubishi's title hopes collapsed when Mäkinen was forced to retire on SS9 with transmission problems, ending any chance of defeating Subaru.

NetworkQ RAC Rally 1995 (instagram)

NetworkQ RAC Rally 1995 (Shaun Flannery Photography)

Whereabouts
Quite a difficult question, just like with K4 MRE. Andrew Cowan has an Evo II supposedly from 1994, which was driven (supposedly) by Eriksson, more than likely in tarmac specification. This all but rules out K5, although it is possible it exists somewhere, as many of the old Evo IIIs have found their way into private collections.

Track record
Starts: 6
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1

• 1993 NetworkQ RAC Rally - 2nd - Eriksson/Parmander

Retirements:

• 1995 NetworkQ RAC Rally - transmission
• 1994 Sanremo Rally - fire
• 1993 Rally de Portugal - road accident

K4 MRE

K4 MRE -alongside sister car K5 MRE- was the first Lancer Evolution entered by Ralliart Europe in the WRC, making her debut on the 1993 Rallye Monte-Carlo with Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander. One funny story occured right before the event, after Ralliart failed to secure Coca-Cola sponsorship. But just before the event, the wrong design scheme was faxed to the workshop, that's why the Lancers had Coca-Cola stripes on the sides. They ran the event like that, but the design -sadly- has never been seen since. Anyways, Eriksson did well, and finished 4th, albeit 17 minutes behind the winner.

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1993 (internet)

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1993 (instagram)

Her next event was the Rallye de Portugal, again with Eriksson and Parmander. As said above, the cars were sporting a new look, with a lot of green replacing red and black. They were doing well once again (remember, this was only the second works outing for the Lancers ever!), and finished 5th behind more experienced opposition.

Rallye de Portugal 1993 (F1PAM): this is a great picture, as during the Lancer's design phase,
the Integrale was studied thoroughly by Mitsubishi engineers

Rallye de Portugal 1993 (olhares.sapo.pt)

Between two competitive outings, she (or her numberplates) was used on the team's 1993 Rally Finland pre-event test as well.

1993 1000 Lakes Rally pre-event test (Youtube)

Her final WRC event in 1993 came on the RAC Rally, this time with Schwarz. They had very little experience, and that was worsened by the trecherous conditions that year (snow and ice in Wales, ice in Kielder, etc.), but in the end reached the finish in 8th.

Network Q RAC Rally 1993 (pistech.karoo.net)

1994
Despite the arrival of new chassis, the old cars (or at least their numberplates) were kept around an converted to Evo II. K4 MRE returned on the Sanremo Rally, with the team's new star, Tommi Mäkinen. Their rally didn't end well, as Tommi took a wheel off on SS5 and they retired.

1995
K4 MRE returned to the WRC on the RAC Rally, again with Mäkinen and now as an Evo III. Mitsubishi was in a fight with Subaru for the manufacturers' title, but their plans didn't go too well: Mäkinen retired with transmission failure, and Eriksson crashed out, meaning Mitsubishi finished 2nd behind Subaru.

Network Q RAC Rally 1995 (Shaun Flannery Photography)

Network Q RAC Rally 1995 (Shaun Flannery Photography)

Whereabouts
This is a tough one, as this car was one of the two first Lancer Evos to compete in the WRC, and yet it might now have survived. There's an Evo II in Cowan's collection, but from the pictures it can't be determined which one, and none of the Evo IIIs is likely to be this car.

Track record (might be incomplete)
Starts: 6
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Best result: 4th - Rallye Monte-Carlo 1993
Retirements: 2

• 1995 RAC Rally - transmission
• 1994 RAC Rally - accident

L4 MRE

L4 MRE made her debut on the 1994 Rallye Monte-Carlo (alongside sister car L5 MRE) with Eriksson and Parmander. Together with their team-mates, they won 11 of the 22 stages, but due to various problems, they finished 5th.

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1994 (mulpix.com)

From the ice and cold mountains around Monte-Carlo to the humid and hot rainforests of Indonesia: this sums up the journey that took L4 MRE from the opening round of the WRC to the opening round of the increasingly important APRC, the 19th Bank Utamaa Rally Indonesia. Now converted to Evo II spec, Eriksson remained her driver, and the pairing proved to be successful on gravel, winning the event by over 2 minutes. Shinozuka in the Japanese works car (KNY70-HA7863, article of it later) finished 3rd.

Bank Utamaa Rally Indonesia 1994 (en.response.jp)

Her next event was the Rally Australia (at least that's what I have any proof for; in between, she could have appeared on the Malaysian Rally). There was a big fight between McRae and Kankkunen, but Eriksson didn't have a say in that; he finished 3rd, almost 4 minutes behind McRae.

Rally Australia 1994 (en.response.jp)

1995
She made her return on the 1995 1000 Lakes Rally, which wasn't a part of the WRC in that year, with Tommi Mäkinen. After winning in 1994 (and putting himself in the spotlight) with a Ford Escort, Tommi won again. At this point, the car was converted to Evo III spec, and had a one-off yellow livery.

1000 Lakes Rally 1995 (itsbrucemclaren.tumblr.com)

1000 Lakes Rally 1995 (Rainer Nyberg twitter)

Whereabouts
She made it to 1995, but wasn't used in 1996. With many new chassis built (supposedly...), she is either in a collector's hands or was destroyed.

Track record (most likely incomplete)
Starts: 4
Wins: 2

• 1994 Rally Indonesia - Eriksson/Parmander
• 1995 1000 Lakes Rally - Mäkinen/Harjanne

Podiums: 3

• 1994 Rally Indonesia - Eriksson/Parmander
• 1994 Rally Australia - Eriksson/Parmander
• 1995 1000 Lakes Rally - Mäkinen/Harjanne

Retirements: 0