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

J200 RAE

This car is pretty much a mystery, and not really a 1993 car - given the numberplate, it was registered likely in the first half of 1992. Nevertheless, it was pretty much like R6 MRE or Y2 MMR (more like the latter, as R6 MRE was likely converted from a used Evo IV chassis), never competing anywhere.

Pre-Monte 1993 test (McKlein)

Pre-Monte 1993 test (McKlein)

Pre-Monte 1993 test (McKlein)

 

 J200 RAE on the 1993 Finalnd pre-event test (Youtube)

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

L6 MRE

L6 MRE made her debut on the 1994 Rally New Zealand, with Armin Schwarz and Klaus Wicha. The event counted towards the WRC and the APRC among others - so specialist drivers were also present to try to throw a wrench into the regulars' business. Schwarz was not baffled by them though, and finished 3rd, right in front of his more experienced team-mate Kenneth Eriksson.

Rally New Zealand 1994 (en.response.jp)

Rally New Zealand 1994 (KiwiRallyFan)

Her next event was the Hong Kong - Beijing Rally. No info on who drove the car or what the finish was, and pictures... no-no.

1996
She returned on the 1996 1000 Lakes Rally, with Ralliart test driver Lasse Lampi (this could indicate that at that time L6 MRE was a test car), and as an Evo III. They did what they could, and ended up 8th overall against very-very strong opposition.

1000 Lakes Rally 1996 (mattsoumi)

Whereabouts
She made it to 1996, albeit most likely as a test car; this could indicate that she was scrapped later on, but just as well she might be still around, although not likely.

Track record
Starts: 3
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1

• 1994 Rally New Zealand - Schwarz/Wicha

Retirements: 0

L5 MRE

L5 MRE made her debut as an Evo I at the 1994 Rallye Monte-Carlo with Armin Schwarz and Klaus Wicha. They had a great showing, winning a lot of stages, but a mistake cost them 4 minutes, and eventually they finished 7th.

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1994 (forum-auto.com)

Her next event was the Rally New Zealand (which was part of the WRC and APRC as well), this time with Eriksson. By this time the car was converted to Evo II spec (most notable difference from the outside is the different front sumpguard and bumper). Surprisingly, Schwarz finished 3rd, while Eriksson managed 4th in the car.

Rally New Zealand 1994 (internet / KiwiRallyFan)

Her next event was 1994 Hong Kong - Beijing Rally. At the moment I don1t know who her driver was (most likely Eriksson), and what the result was. Here's a picture though, supposedly of L5 MRE.

Hong Kong - Beijing Rally 1994 (www.scalemodellink.com)

Whereabouts
Since there's very little info on the APRC rounds of 1993-94-95, I can not fully say that this car had only two starts (ot this numberplate even). The car might have competed on the 1994 Rally of Malaysia and Thailand, as well as being used again as an Evo III...

Track record (most likely incomplete)
Starts: 3
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Retirements: 0