M7 MRE

M7 MRE is a car that first appeared during 1995 - but with uncertainty over the fact when (to me at least, there are very few pictures and videos). Her first event seems to be the 1995 Rally of Indonesia, with Eriksson and Parmander. They finished 2nd, a bit more than 2 minutes behind winner Colin McRae.

Next up was the 1995 Petronas Rally of Malaysia, with Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander. They won the rally, in front of their team-mates Mäkinen and Harjanne.

Petronas Rally of Malaysia 1995 (Mitsubishi)

Her next event was the 1995 Rally Australia, again with Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander as her crew. The event (which wasn't part of the WRC that year, only the APRC) couldn't have gone better, as they collected maximum points following their win!

Rally Australia 1995 (web-rally.blogspot.com)

Rally Australia 1995 (Martin Holmes / rallylife.cz)

1996
M7 MRE made her return very late into the Evo III era, reappearing on the 1996 San Remo Rally with the team's guest star, Didier Auriol. This was the charismatic French driver's first drive in the car, jumping into the team in the last minute. Accordingly, most of the time he was getting used to the car, and he eventually finished 8th, and kept Ralliart in contention for the Manufacturers' Title.

San Remo Rally 1996 (internet)

Originally, the plan was that Auriol would drive the car in Spain as well, but Mäkinen crashed his own car during the previous round, and so Burns got to drive M7, whereas Tommi got Burns' car (though with M5 MRE numberplates, which were likely swapped from the crashed car). The new car didn't bring Richard any success as they had to retire.

Rally Catalunya 1996 (pinterest)

Whereabouts
Update 2018: The car is in Japan alongside K7 MRE. 

Update 2024: The car is showcased in the Fuji Motorsports Museum in her 1995 Australia livery:

At the Fuji Motorsports Museum (Miho Cheung / facebook)

Track record
Starts: 5
Wins: 2

• Rally of Malaysia 1995

• Rally Australia 1995

Podiums: 3

• Rally Indonesia 1995
• Rally of Malaysia 1995
• Rally Australia 1995

Retirements: 1

• Catalunya Rally 1996 - retired

July update

Hi all!

Maybe you've noticed that the posting was nonexistent during the first half of the year (even though I've been keeping the existing ones up to date), since this was my final BSc semester, and I had a lot going on (thesis writing, preparing for the exams, etc). So now that I've finished and have time, I'm planing on getting some posts out much much more frequently. At first I obvoiusly want to finish the Lancers, then move on to other cars. Hopefully not long from now this can happen. As always, if You have any questions or additional info, it's very welcome to share it. :)

M6 MRE

M6 MRE -alongside sister M5- started her career as an Evo II on 1995 Rallye Monte-Carlo, being piloted by Andrea Aghini. Just like team-mate Mäkinen they finished in the points, coming home in 6th place.

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1995 (pinterest)

Her next event was the Rally Catalunya, again with Aghini. They put up a good fight, and ended the event 5th overall after the Toyota exclusion.

Rallye Catalunya 1995 (web-rally.blogspot.com)

1996
Her first 1996 appearance was on the Acropolis Rally, now with Mäkinen. The Subarus -particularly McRae's- was far ahead of the field, but Mäkinen managed to come home in 2nd, keeping his championship lead.

Acropolis Rally 1996 (Leszek Kusmirek / ewrc-results.com)

Acropolis Rally 1996 (Leszek Kusmirek / ewrc-results.com)

Whereabouts
The car is currently owned by Jari Latvala, Jari-Matti's father. It was formerly used by the Ralliart works team as a Safari Rally recce car. Later it found its way back to Europe, and Jari refurbished it with the help of MML and X-Trac. They also built a replica car based on this. The below pictures were taken by Latvala Motorsport. If you want to check their car and services out, you can do so at www.latvalamotorsport.com.

With the replica car in Latvala Motorsport's HQ (www.latvalamotorsport.com)

Track record
Starts: 3
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1 - 1996 Acropolis Rally (2nd)
Retirements: 0

M5 MRE

M5 MRE - with her sister car M6 MRE - were the last cars that debuted as Evo IIs on the 1995 Rallye Monte-Carlo. Novelties for the season included improved engine and all-new front and centre active (electromagnetic) differentials. Mäkinen was her first driver, and they were 3rd for most of the event, but the new differentials developped problems, and they slipped back to 4th; a good start nonetheless.

Rallye Monte-Carlo 1995 (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo I to X book)

The car returned to competition as an Evo III on the 1995 Tour de Corse, still with Mäkinen. Although he had quite a lot of tarmac training in Italy, he was new to this event, and arriving in the finish in 8th and giving Mitsubishi some points was more than decent driving!

1995 Tour de Corse (video cutout)

After Corsica, the car was entered to the 24 Hours of Ypres Rally with Andrea Aghini as a test. They were doing well, but they had a pretty bad crash, drove the remainder of the stage with the bonnep open,and lost 10 minutes in the process. They finished 4th after Snijers' exclusion, one spot behind a young Freddy Loix, who was driving a F2 Astra at the time.

1995 Ypres Rally (diecastintherough.blogspot.com)

They returned on the Rally Catalunya, but this time it was not a good outing, as Mäkinen crashed out pretty early into the event.

1996
The season started in Sweden, and the car returned with Tommi at the wheel again. They made a great pairing on snow, and came home with the win!

1996 Rally Sweden (juwra.com)

She returned on the 1000 Lakes (Rally Finland) with Mäkinen still at command. This was a very close-fought battle with Kankkunen, but in the end, the Mitsubishi crew was victorious.

1996 1000 Lakes Rally (juwra.com)

Next up was the Sanremo Rally, still with Mäkinen. This was his first event as a world champion, and he immediately crashed out on the first stage.

Sanremo Rallye 1996 (facebook)

The final event of the season and the Evo III's works car career was the Catalunya Rally. Unfortunately, Mitsubishi had little hope of beating Subaru in the Manufacturers' Championship (unlike in the APRC), and their chances significantly dropped with Auriol's withdrawal (he had no car after Tommi's crash in Italy). Mäkinen was slowed by a stand-in codriver, and eventually finished 5th.

1996 Catalunya Rally

1996 Catalunya Rally (panoramio.com)

2013
In 2013, the plate and Tommi returned together for runs on the Killeri SSS during Rally Finland. I, for one, at that time didn't think he will drive one of his Lancers again, but fortunately, I was wrong!

As a show car

2013 Rally Finland (static.blogs.sudinfo.be)

2013 Rally Finland (Getty Images)

2013 Rally Finland - Tommi and Seppo posing with the car

2013 Rally Finland - in action on Killeri

2021
After an 8 year break, the car and Tommi have returned to do a demo run through 2021 Rally Finland's opening classic city stage, Harju. The car looked and sounded very nice and sharp, and Tommi seemed to have good fun, even though he had a stall.

Rally Finland 2021, Harju city stage (Ilkka Rytkönen)

Whereabouts
Well, it is rarely the case, but actually the confusing part here is that - theoretically - two cars exist as M5 MRE at the moment! Yet, none of them are 100% confirmed, and both can be M5 MRE! One car is at Andrew Cowan's museum, dressed up as the 1996 Rally Sweden winning car, and the other is Tommi Mäkinen's car, which was at Juha's museum. Now, when I wrote above that Auriol couldn't start in Spain because Mäkinen crashed his car, and he used M5 MRE like nothing happened, it is quite obvious that there were at least two chassis carrying this numberplate. So, both cars might be correct!


Track record
Starts: 8
Wins: 2

• 1996 Rally Sweden
• 1996 1000 Lakes Rally

Podiums: 2
Retirements: 2

• 1995 Catalunya Rally (accident)
• 1996 Sanremo Rally (accident)

Merry Christmas!

Well, another year has passed, and now most people are still rushing to get things done before Christmas. I'd like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! The blog's been on a slow burn, but I tried to speed things up this year (with one post per month, not much, but the farther the topic goes back in time, the harder it is to find infos and pictures). But not much ago the blog has welcomed its 24000th visitor, which is quite great! I hope you'll stick with me in the coming times as well.

Here's a couple of pictures of Ralliart's test in Rovaniemi from the December of 2000, with Tommi giving Santa a ride in his own slide!

I'm sure they went a little sideways later... (Mitsubishi)

Tommi and Joulupukki, with S44 TMR in the background (Mitsubishi)

Retro Rumour Mill - Abu Dhabi and Mitsubishi?

Well, this time a bit of an ancient, but interesting rumour regarding Mitsubishi and Abu Dhabi. Many of you know that Abu Dhabi entered the sport as a big sponsor in 2007 as part of the Ford WRT from Finland onwards. Also, MML prepared an update for the Lancer WRC05, which they claimed made the car 0.5s/km faster than before. Two things that has nothing in common at first sight - and since this is a rumour, take this with a grain of salt -, it might have had. Theory says that Abu Dhabi contacted MML and Mitsubishi about a full-time works return to the series. However, Mitsubishi didn't want it in the end (because of the new direction they had and have at the moment), and so Abu Dhabi went to Cumbria instead. It would have been very interesting to see this come together if it was really true (car/drivers-wise, etc.), but unfortunately it didn't. However, they got as far as decorating up a Lancer WRC with Abu Dhabi colours - it would have looked good if it became a reality. At least we got a better car out of this whole thing in the end, which pretty much kept it alive as long as it is.

Unfortunately, this never became a reality... The WRC07 in Abu Dhabi colours (internet)

N2 APC

This car - just like sister N1 APC - was an APRC-exclusive car, with her being assigned to then up-and-coming Richard Burns. Their first event together was the 1996 Rally of Thailand. They were mixing it up with Mäkinen, Mcrae and Eriksson, but on the last stage of the first day they had a problem, hit a tree, rolled and retired.

Their second event together (there was Indonesia, but no English plates were put on those cars) was the Petronas Rally of Malaysia. The car got a Petronas livery for this event, and it went very well, as they finished 2nd overall!

Podium of the Petronas Rally of Malaysia 1996 (McKlein)

Next up was the Smokefree Rally New Zealand, and the Lancers sported a Rothmans livery this time. The event was star-studded again, but Mäkinen and Possum Bourne crashed, and that left Burns in the lead with Eriksson closing in. However, the Briton did just enough to keep his lead, and win his first major international event.

Smokefree Rally New Zealand 1996 (response.jp)

Her last known event was the 1996 Hong Kong-Beijing Rally, again with Burns. The drivers' championship already went to Eriksson, but Mitsubishi looked to retain their manufacturers' title. Burns couldn't answer Ari Vatanen's times, and had to settle for 2nd; however, a 1-2-3 finish still ensured the Title and good spirits.

The three musketeers, or N1 APC, N2 APC and the Japanese car lining up for the start (Mitsubishi)

1996 Hong Kong-Beijing Rally

Whereabouts

Same goes for this as N1 APC: not much possibility for its survival, but if it made its way somehow into a collector, it can still be around somewhere.

Track recod

Starts: 4

Wins: 1 - 1996 Rally New Zealand

Podiums: 3

• 1996 Hong Kong-Beijing Rally
• 1996 Rally New Zealand
• 1996 Petronas Rally of Malaysia

Retirements: 1 - 1996 Rally of Indonesia (Accident)