KN04 WMD -alongside i.e. WMC- was built in the summer of 2004, but Mitsubishi's downscale in the 2nd half of the year meant these weren't used till 2005. In fact, WMD had a very intersting 2005 -she was Rovanperä's car, and she was the last ever overall podium car for Mitsubishi in the WRC (and since they're going green and have no intentions to even mention what they've achieved...). But let's begin where it all started for her, the 2005 Monte Carlo Rallye. She was paired up with the team's newly recruited driver, Harri Rovanperä. Since he hasn't driven on tarmax before for quite a while, it was nice to the team to have him in 7th place.
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| 2005 Monte Carlo Rallye (Mitsubishi) |
Her next event was the Rally Mexico, where the cars have to withstand the heavy stresses of altitude changes and hot weather. Her driver was Rovanperä once again, and they finished the event in 5th - not much behind Loeb, but they would've been 4th if not for brake problems, aand a faulty ECU, fuel pipe and ignition; the replacement of the latter trio caused them a 1min20s penalty. But after all, not a bad result!
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| 2005 Corona Rally Mexico (Mitsubishi) |
So, she became a long-haul car, but instead of appearing in New Zealand in April, her next appearance was in Cyprus. The event was maybe the toughest of the season, proven by the amount of cars forced to retire. Rovanperä was her driver again, and they began very well, settling in in 5th. However, gear selection problems pushed them down to 7th, and on the 2nd day, they had to retire when a stone blocked the damper, and the suspension arm broke. They restared, and finished in 7th nonetheless.
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| 2005 Rally Cyprus (Mitsubishi) |
She returned to action with Rovanperä in Argentina. They had very god speed throughout, except on the morning of the second day, where they lost a lot of time with a bad setup. After fighting hard with Gardemeister for 4th, they finished 5th.
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| 2005 Rally Argentina (Mitsubishi) |
They went one better in her penultimate rally as a works car - the Wales Rally GB. They battled Loeb, Duval and Solberg throughout the whole rally, and missed out on a podium position by only 12 seconds, but all of this wasn't important after the tragic accident of Michael Park.
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| 2005 Wales Rally GB (Mitsubishi) |
The season's last rally, and also the last of Team Mitsubishi Ralliart to date, was the Rally Australia. She was paired with Harri again, and this time, they did great! By finishing 2nd and winning five stages, this was the best result for Mitsubishi in the WRC since the 2001 Safari Rally...
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| On her last rally as a works car, 2005 Rally Australia (Mitsubishi) |
2006
In 2006, she had two starts, both with Jussi Välimäki. The first was the S.M. OK Auto-Ralli, as a preparation for Rally Finland; this event didn't go too well, as they were forced to retire with an engine problem.
So, on to the big one. Välimäki had a few rallies in 2006 with Ralliart UK (which became MML Sports), so he had a bit of experience with the car. They drove a mature and consistent rally, finishing in 7th position, and collecting 2 championship points.
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| 2006 Rally Finland (Mitsubishi) |
2007
Later, this turned out to be her last year, but at least she had a lengthy WRC programme with very good drivers and some good results as well. She began the season in Monte Carlo with Toni Gardemeister, who had a brief and forgettable stint with the team back in 2001. But this time it was all different: they were fighting for 4th place, but slipped back to 7th on the final day. Still a good result against much younger and faster cars.
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| 2007 Rallye Monte Carlo (Mitsubishi) |
Rally Sweden, their next event, was even more promising: a car that is great on snow, combined with a Finn is always a good thing to have. They didn't disappoint, as they took the lead after the first stage (note: it was a superspecial). They fell back a bit later, but were in contention for a podium. On the second day, a 50s time penalty meant that a top5 finish was out of reach. In the end, they climbed back from 8th to 6th, collecting 3 points an valuable momentum for Rally Norway.
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| 2007 Rally Sweden (Mitsubishi) |
So, up next was Rally Norway - another snow event. Gardemeister, Honkanen and the Lancer were in 5th position after the first day, just over 18s off of 4th. However, he got stuck in a snowbank on the first stage of day two, and used the day's other stages to collect experience. They retired at the end of the second day.
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| 2007 Rally Norway (Mitsubishi) |
Toni's programme didn't include the long-haul (and therefore expensive) Rallye Mexico, so they were back in action in Portugal. They couldn't last long, as they clipped a bridge, and damaged the suspension. He was driving with a puncture (due to the wheel being out of alignment), but was stopped and excluded for safety reasons.
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| 2007 Rally Portugal (Mitsubishi) |
They missed Argentina for the same reasons as Mexico, but were back in Sardinia. This time everything went well, and they finished 6th - first of the private teams.
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| 2007 Rally d'Italia Sardinia (Mitsubishi) |
Unfortunately, Toni ran out of cash at this point, and couldn't continue with the team. However, Life doesn't stop, and WMD was back in action on the next round, the Acropolis Rally; her drivers were Urmo Aava and Kuldar Sikk. This was the first taste of a WRCar on a WRC rally for the former JWRC competitors, but they got to the finish without much trouble, although in 14th place.
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| 2007 Acropolis Rally (Mitsubishi) |
Then came her last start to date, the Rally Finland, with once factory driver Kristian Sohlberg. He made quick work of the car, as on SS2, the first normal stage of the rally, he crashed pretty badly 800 metres into the stage. The car was destroyed, the rollcage broken or bent in multiple places, and not much was left from the back of the car either.
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| This was before... (Marek Felt) |
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| ...this after the crash. |
Whereabouts
Her chassis was pretty well destroyed, and the registration wasn't seen ever since 2007. However, it is possible that the re-shelled her, but the absence of the plate pretty much excludes that.
Track record
Starts: 15
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1 (
2005 Rally Australia)
Retirements: 4
- 2007 Rally Finland: crash
- 2007 Rally de Portugal: excluded
- 2007 Rally Norway: retired
- 2006 S.M. OK Auto-Ralli: engine failure
