Japan Rally : Mitsubishi Motors - Preview
The Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports WRC Team now heads home, to Japan, for its most important round of the 2005 FIA World Rally Championship season. Rally Japan (September 29-October 2) is the only Asian event in the series and the team will be fielding a three-car entry for the first time this season, underlining the significance it places on the event.
Harri Rovanperä/Risto Pietiläinen and Gilles Panizzi/Hervé Panizzi will pilot the two registered Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05s, while “Gigi” Galli/Guido d`Amore will compete in a third factory-run car. The event is also the penultimate round of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship and a host of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution drivers will be vying for both PWRC and overall Group N honors.
“Rally Japan is a very important event for the team and I am expecting our crews to show another good performance,” said Isao Torii, Head of Mitsubishi Motor Sports. “We continue to make improvements, the car and drivers go well, and Gilles is also ready for action once again.”
Being that Rally Japan ran for the first time in the FIA World Rally Championship last year, the event is still a very level playing field for the crews. Harri Rovanperä contested the event in the 307 WRC but was dogged with transmission problems and then suffered with a poor road position for legs two and three. He did however finish sixth overall but could well have been higher up the leaderboard.
“Japan is very different to European countries, but a fantastic place with friendly, kind and very nice people,” said Harri. “A lot of people know about the rally and last year there were thousands of spectators, especially on the road sections through the towns and villages; that is a nice thing for us to see. The stages are very fast and narrow, and if it`s dry the surface can be quite hard for the tires, but if it`s wet it is quite slippy; not muddy, but always slippy. It is not such an easy rally, for sure. Of course we are always looking for a good result and I think if everything goes well then we can maybe look at fourth position as being realistic. If everything goes really fantastic, like at the start of Rally GB, then I really hope for myself and Mitsubishi that we can make the podium.”

Gilles Panizzi will be competing for the first time in Rally Japan, although the Frenchman is a well-known character on Japanese soil after promotional trips to the country. He and brother Hervé will be looking to put on a great show for their fans and hope to secure a top result for Mitsubishi in their first competitive outing with the team since the Cyprus Rally in May.

Panizzi makes his return in Rally Japan
“I will do the maximum for sure, like always,” said Gilles. “I know very little about Rally Japan so I will discover the region for the first time and hope to be able to make good pace notes and have a nice feeling with the car. My last time driving on gravel was in Cyprus, but I am very happy to be back with the team for its home event. My feeling about Japan is good; I have been twice to Tokyo, which was fantastic, and there is a very nice relationship with the people. I am looking forward to going back.”
The Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports WRC Team is also fielding a third Lancer WRC05 for rising star Gigi Galli. The Italian will also be making a debut outing in Rally Japan, but has already demonstrated this year that he is capable of judging the pace and securing a measured result for the team on events where he has never previously competed.
“My strategy for Japan is the same as it has been all year; to gain experience and understanding of the conditions,” said Gigi. “If we can make a nice result at the same time, then that is very good, especially as it is the home event for Mitsubishi.”
Mitsubishi`s preparations for this event have been a year-long affair, with all three drivers visiting Japan on a number of occasions throughout the year. The most recent trip by Harri Rovanperä and Gigi Galli, in early September, took them on a whistle-stop two-day tour, hosted by Mr. Osamu Masuko, the President of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. On September 2, the drivers visited the company`s Research and Development Center in Okazaki, before heading 300 kilometers back to Tokyo to meet the employees at MMC`s headquarters. The second day of their tour, on September 3, took the duo to Yokohama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, where they put on a spectacular display for more than 3,000 fans. Demonstrations in the new Lancer Evolution IX (Lancer Evolution 9) wowed the crowd and left many amazed by the performance of the car and the skill of the drivers.
Rally Japan, which is hosted in Obihiro on the northern island of Hokkaido - some 150 kilometers east of Sapporo and just under 1000 kilometers north of Tokyo - is another of the toughest rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship. Narrow gravel stages consist of fast flat-out straights leading into 90-degree corners, and a lack of run-off areas leave only a small margin for error.
Unpredictable weather conditions are another feature on the Obihiro-based event, which runs in the sub-prefecture of Tokachi. The itinerary for this year`s event remains largely unchanged. However, it will feature three new stages and the longest stage in the FIA World Rally Championship, the 50.06 kilometer Kunneywa-Niueo, a combination of two separate stages run in 2004. While running it as one stage reduces the overall leg time, it is also vitally important being that Rally Japan runs one month later this year and therefore has less daylight hours.
Commenting on the challenge of Rally Japan, Yasuo Tanaka, the team`s Technical Director, said: “We confirmed some good performance during Rally GB and for Japan we will have some improvements with the center differential. Hopefully we can look forward to a good result for Rally Japan.”
This year`s Rally Japan kicks off on Thursday September 29 with a ceremonial start in Central Obihiro, where tens of thousands of fans are once again anticipated to cheer on their heroes. The opening leg of competition, on Friday, however, is when the real action begins and it will be no easy first day for the 90 entrants. The route takes the crews north of the town of Rikubetsu and is notable for its two runs over the ultra-long Kunneywa-Niueo forestry stage, as well as two runs through one of the shortest stages, the 2.73 kilometer spectator stage which uses part of the Rikubetsu Circuit.
In total, the leg takes in nine stages and 163.26 competitive kilometers. The second leg, centered on the town of Ashoro, is shorter but still covers 12 stages, none of which is longer than 16.25 kilometers. Sunday`s shortest leg, near Shintoku and to the north-west of Obihiro, takes in five stages and 85.94 competitive kilometers, again based around the central service area at Kita Aikoku, before the finish back in Obihiro at 15:00 hrs (local). In total, the 2005 Rally Japan covers 26 stages and 350.18 competitive kilometers in a total distance of 1,614.84 kilometers.


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