Great Britain : Mitsubishi Motors
The Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 crew of Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen held off a mounting challenge from Marcus Grönholm in the second leg of Wales Rally GB, but ultimately lost out to their fellow Finn when a gearbox problem dropped them from third to fifth in the penultimate stage. Team-mates “Gigi” Galli and Guido d`Amore have set consistent times in their debut competitive outing in the event and the Italians have moved up the leaderboard into seventh position.
“It`s a shame we had the gearbox problem on Harri`s car, but tomorrow is a long day and fourth place is a realistic goal for us,” said Isao Torii, Head of Mitsubishi Motor Sports. “Harri is just 0.7 seconds behind Duval and if all goes according to plan, I`m confident he can take fourth tomorrow.”
Today, the crews headed to the north-east of Swansea for another seven stages totaling 103.86 competitive kilometers before returning to Cardiff for an all- new 1.1 kilometer special stage in the world-famous Millennium Stadium. With the sliding roof closed at the international sporting venue, Cardiff`s stage represents the first indoor timed section in FIA World Rally Championship history. Again, clear conditions were a welcome sight this morning and the thousands of spectators who poured into the Welsh forests enjoyed spectacular competition in ideal autumnal weather conditions.
Harri Rovanperä kept on the pace this morning, the Finn fifth fastest through the opening 19.47 kilometer Crychan stage before dropping some time in the following stage with a broken EMI (mousse) in the front right tire. In the final stage before service he was nevertheless back on the pace, fifth fastest, to hold off Marcus Grönholm, who once again had the podium in his sight. After the mid-leg service Harri maintained his speed, but in the penultimate stage he lost third gear, more than 30 seconds and two positions on the leaderboard. After the short stage in Cardiff - where a crowd of 20,000 witnessed great action - the Finn overnights in fifth after a fine performance during the first two legs of the 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
“About 5-7 kilometers into the stage we lost third gear,” said a disappointed Harri. “We could`ve dropped more time, but the nature of the stage was reasonably kind to us. The other problem was that normally when you lose a gear you can shift through it, but I had a problem getting over third and was worried the whole gearbox would break. But it`s been okay and overall we`ve had two very good days, with this really being our only problem. Of course we will fight again tomorrow and hopefully take fourth.”
Team-mate Gigi Galli has also been setting some impressive times in his debut competitive outing on Wales Rally GB. The Italian was never outside the top eight this morning and moved up the leaderboard following the misfortune of others. He set a fourth fastest time in SS11, put on a spectacular show in the Millennium Stadium, and overnights in seventh.
“I have been staying focused on the road and our notes, because this is my first Rally GB and I have to learn to work myself, not the car, in this situation,” said Gigi. “The whole day has been good and with the drier conditions, this makes things ‘easier`. I`m happy with our performance for our first time here and we have compared favorably with a lot of other drivers with much more experience of these stages.”
Adding to the drivers` comments, Roger Estrada, Principal Rally Engineer, said: “It was a good performance all day long and a real shame we had the gearbox problem on Harri`s car late this afternoon. It lost him time and a couple of positions and that`s obviously disappointing. But, overall, the day has been good and the tires have worked well all day.”
The final leg, on Sunday, moves directly east of Swansea for the closing four stages - two run twice - before the finish back in Cardiff at 14:00 hrs (local). Even so, the leg takes in 113.62 competitive kilometers.


Tags: mitsubishi, lancer, evolution, harri, rovanpera, great-britain,