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

• 2006 Donegal International Rally
• 2015 Rallye National du Pays de Fayence

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)

P33 MRE

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

At the 2006 GFOS (fareham.org)

GFOS 2006

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

R22 MRE

I almost forgot about R22 MRE, but luckily I got my mind back in order, so here is the (very) short story.
R22 made her debut alongside R2 at the 1998 Catalunya Rallye, with Richard Burns as her driver. Despite Burns' lack of experience, the crew did well, and finished right behind team-mate Mäkinen in 4th place.

En route to 4th on the Evo V's debut (Mitsubishi)

Her final appearance on an event was the 1998 Corsica Rally, again with Burns. They were doing well (they were podium contenders!) until Richard hit a stone, the lower arm broke, and they had to retire on the liaison back to the service park.

Not much before they hit a stone, 1998 Corsica (Mitsubishi)

Whereabouts
She was used as a test car for Loix prior to the 1999 season, wearing an Evo VI front bumper and rear wing (R2 MRE and S22 TMR make appearances in the video as well): click here. After that, she wasn't seen again.

Track record
Starts: 2
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Best finish: 4th (1998 Rallye Catalunya)
Retirements: 1 (1998 Corsica Rally)

KN52 XBC

Well, all is good if the ending is good, and so is the series of the Evo WRCars. Just a very much typical Ralliart story: while KN52 XBB had a short and sad career, KN52 XBC, in contrary, is still doing well, and is the most successful Evo WRC ever, and also the only one existing that never ever wore the Marlboro livery. But let's just start from the beginning.
She was built alongside KN52 XBB, and after they were only completed after the team decided they was going for a testing year, she was used to test components for the new car. And just like her sister, she was entered to the 2003 Deutschland Rallye, her driver being Kristian Sohlberg. Nothing really exciting, as the crew finished 17th.

A Flying Finn flying the car, 2003 Deutschland Rallye (Petr Lusk)

Whereabouts
She returned to action in 2007 after she was bought by Ramon Apalantza. He had tremendous success with the car, using it only on tarmac rallysprints, and basically never finishing out of the top4. He stopped rallying her in 2009 when he started using a Group N Evo IX, but he still has the car, which is displayed in a museum.
Update: just realised that her last start so far was in 2010, on the Rallysprint Villa de Fitero, where they finished 5th.

Awaiting the start

In 2009

Before scrutineering

Possibly Rallyesprint de Karrantza 2007

In 2009, during her last full competitive season so far

Rallye Balcon de Bizkaia 2009

Rallysprint de Azkoitia 2007

Track record
Starts: 22
Wins: 2 (Rallye Balcon de Bizkaia 2009 & Rallysprint de Azkoitia 2007)
Podiums: 14 (6x 2nd, 8x 3rd)
Retirements: 3 (Rallysprint de Azkoitia 2007, Rallysprint de Azpeitia - Ikasberri 2008, Rallysprint de Azpeitia - Ikasberri 2008)

KN52 XBB

Maybe the saddest story of all these cars goes to this gal, KN52 XBB. She was a pure test car, and never saw competition in 2002 as she was finished after Rally GB. So in 2003, she was used to test parts for the new, completely redesigned (that's a bit illogical to test components in a car for an other that has no similarities to the older one except the wheelbase and the base engine, but OK), but was finally entered to the 2003 Deutschland Rallye, with Jani Paasonen. They were way off the pace, and on the rain-soaked event, they went straight on a corner, landing in the forest; the car was basically written off, and as no need for her, she was just scrapped after the event.

On her first event, the 2003 Dautschland Rallye (Petr Lusk)

2014 Update: It caught my attention that Jari Tuuri (whose team is running KP51 RWO for Ari Vihavainen) aquired/built a new Lancer WRC, and used it as a course car on the ABC Ralli this year.
Album of the car's rebuild: http://septech.fi/albumi/mitsubishiwrcstep2projekti/
He entered the Neste Rally Finland with this car -this was the first appearance of a Lancer Evo WRC on the event since 2002!-, and finished 3rd in his category!

On the Rally Finland podium, 2014 (Oke Tuuri)

Their latest event was the Toivakka Ralli, where they finished 11th.

The beauty in the service park (Jarkko Ruotsalainen)

On Octorber 4th, they participated on the Kattasora Rallisprint in Laukaa. Thanks for the pics again! :)

2014 Kattasora Sprint (Tuuri)

Same. Looking splendid!

Also, they found and bought a lot of spares for their cars, so the dreaded parts shortage won't hit these old ladies in the future. Also, here's a video, XBB appears at 0:27.

There were othr starts, but until I can confirm which these were, I won't write about them.
2015
Her first event of the year was the Lipposen-OP Talvirallisprint, driven by Antti Matikainen (and possibly by Jari Tuuri as well, I will have to get info on that).

Lipposen-OP Talvirallisprint 2015 (TT-Photomedia)

Up next was the Ala-Talkkari SM Sprint, with Tuuri driving her. They finished 13th after some mistakes costing a lotof time.

2015 Ala-Talkkari SM Sprint (Verkkonen.net)

The next event was the Vaakuna Ralli, part of the Finnish Championship. She was piloted by Tuuri again, and this time, they finished 38th.

2015 SM Vaakuna Ralli (Timo Korkalainen / SM Ralli facebook)

SM Vaakuna Ralli 2015 (www.sutipro.com)

The car returned to action on the SM Itäralli, again with Antti Matikainen. Given the fact that he hasn't driven the car in competition since the winter, their 13th place finish is not that bad.

SM Itäralli 2015 (Itäralli facebook)

Jari Tuuri returned to the car for the Orimattila 150v. Juhlaralli, where they finished 5th. Unfortunately, so far I couldn't find any photos, so if you have any links or own pics, just let me know!

Tuuri also drove her on the 4vetomies 2015 event, and finished 4th overall!

4vetomies 2015 (4vetomies Twitter)

The car returned on the Pirelli Ralli Tampere, but this time with Antti Matikainen. They were around 10th overall, but just like the other Lancer WRC with Ari Vihavainen, they didn't get far from SS8, as they retired in the finish of the stage; it is not quite clear why though.

Pirelli Ralli Tampere 2015 (Jari Salopino / KAMERAKUVA facebook)

2016
The car returned on the 2016 FRC season opener, the Arctic Rally, with Mikko Eskelinen, who was competing with co-driver (and Ralliart works team veteran) Arto Kapanen, who returned to this car for the first time after the 2003 Deutschland Rallye! Well, back to the actual event: they did well, and finished 3rd (although only because Nikara retired from the lead on the final stage). Not a bad debut with the car!

Arctic Lapland Rally 2016 (Mikko Eskelinen fanpage)

Arctic Lapland Rally 2016 (Jani Kekoni / mediaguru.fi)

They returned on the second round of the Finnish Championship, the SM Vaakuna Ralli. They struggled a bit in the dark, but on the final day moved up the leaderboard, and finished 6th overall and 4th in SM1 class.

SM Vaakuna Ralli 2016 (Jani Kekoni / mediaguru.fi)

The third round of the FRC was the Tahko Ralli. Just like the sister car (KP51 RWO), they had a pretty uneventful start, but as the day progressed, they climbed higher and higher, eventually reaching the finish in 3rd overall, meaning that this is the first time in years that two Lancer WRCs of any kind have graced the final podium at the same time!

During scrutineering, SM Tahko Ralli 2016 (Ralli SM)

Next up was the Enset Oy SM-Ralli. They hoped for a good result given the stage characteristics, but that didn't come to fruition. They finished 6th overall and 5th in SM1 class, and were a minute behind the trio fighting for 3rd place. However, these were still good point for the championship, where they have a chance for the podium.

Enset Oy SM-Ralli 2016 (Marko Koivunen)

The penultimate round of the 2016 Finnish Championship was held in Turku, with a very strong entry list - although OC Veiby was missing from the frontrunners. Eskelinen and Kapanen couldn't take advantage of the Mitsubishi's strong engine as exactly this failed and they had to retire.

SM Ralli Turku 2016 (www.rallism.fi)

The last round of the 2016 Finnish Championship was as usual the Pirelli Ralli, held in Tampere. They prepared with a good test for the event, and they were in the fight for the podium when they lost 22s on SS6, then retired in checkpoint 7B with a blown engine, likely caused by an electrical problem. Hopefully they can sort out the reliability issues that plagued them in the end, and get good results with the car next year.

Pirelli Ralli Tampere 2016 (Marko Koivunen)

Pirelli Ralli Tampere 2016 (Marko Koivunen)

2017
The car was refurbished before the season, and also got a brand new livery, dominated by Mad Croc Orange. They started the year well, finishing 10th on the Arctic Rally against much younger and faster cars.

Arctic Lapland Rally 2017 (Roope Korhonen)

Their next event was the SM Vaakuna Ralli. Unfortunately, they had to retire with mechanical problems for the 3rd time in four rallies.

SM Vaakuna Ralli 2017 (race.kuvat.fi)

Their next event was the Vetomies part of Rally Finland. They did well, and finished the event in 3rd overall, even winning a stage along the way.

Rally Finland Vetomies 2017 (Womppi Racing)

Rally Finland Vetomies 2017 (Jukka Wilén)

2018
She has returned to action on the Rally Finland with Mikko Eskelinen again, as part of the Vetomies event. The rally started well, as they won the first stage, but had to retire on the penultimate one with a transmission problem.

Rally Finland Vetomies 2018 (Juku Motorsport)

2019
She returned to the stages on the Arctic Rally, with the usual Eskelinen-Kapanen crew aboard. They started well, going around 10th place, but unfortunately a sensor broke and they had to retire. They returned under SR rules, and after setting a good time on the first SS of day 2, they were forced to retire again due to mechanical problems.

Arctic Rally 2019 (Jouni Laakso)

2020
She was back in action after a year of absence with Eskelinen&Kapanen on board, rocking a brand new livery as well. For the first time after 2017, they finished the rally, 14th overall and 10th in the SM1 class. Good to see the car still rocking!

Arctic Lapland Rally 2020 (Jonna Vehkakoski / Joy-racing)

Track record (not full)

Starts: 24
Wins: 0
Podiums: 4

• 2014 Neste Rally Finland Open-4WD Class
• 2016 Arctic Rally (SM1 class)
• 2016 Tahko Ralli
• 2017 Neste Rally Finland - Vetomies

Retirements:7

• 2003 ADAC Rallye Deutschland - accident
• 2015 Pirelli Ralli Tampere
• 2016 SM Ralli Turku - engine 
• 2016 Pirelli Ralli Tampere -engine
• 2017 SM Vaakuna Ralli - mechanical 
• 2018 Rally Finland Vetomies - transmission
• 2019 Arctic Rally - mechanical