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...
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| At Autoservice Ehrle (Michael Ehrle facebook) |
Track record
Starts: 31
Wins: 0
Podiums:
Retirements: 9
