The Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports crew of Gilles and Hervé Panizzi scored points in Rally Argentina, the eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The French crew piloted their Lancer WRC04 to seventh position, having dropped to 18th during the opening leg of competition. As a consequence, they score points for themselves and Mitsubishi in both championships.
Team-mates Kristian Sohlberg and Kaj Lindström failed to restart yesterday morning after the team identified an engine-related problem on their Lancer WRC04 late last night. The crew lost drive in stage 19 and although the transmission and relevant engine components could have been changed to get them back out for the final leg, there was simply insufficient time to complete the work to the standard required.
“We are very happy to have one car at the finish of such a tough and demanding rally,” commented Technical Director Mario Fornaris. “Thanks go to Gilles, Hervé and the team who have all done a great job. Congratulations also to Kristian and Kaj; they were unlucky but they drove very well and made no mistakes.”
Mitsubishi driver “Dani” Solà scored his second 2004 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship victory and Lancer Evolutions claimed the top three positions in the category. Solà's maximum points ensure he retains his lead in the series with three rounds remaining.
The final leg of Rally Argentina took the crews to some of the most famous roads in the series. Just five stages and 84.96 competitive kilometers lay in wait, but the rocky tracks in the Traslasierra Mountains kept the crews on their toes until the closing seconds. The nature of the route also ensured that the famed El Cóndor and Giulio Césare stages could be included and these notorious ‘rally-deciders' were run as the last two stages of the event.
Gilles Panizzi enjoyed a trouble-free day and the Frenchman set sixth fastest time in each of the three morning stages run to the north of Villa Carlos Paz. Yesterday afternoon, he and co-driving brother Hervé claimed fourth fastest in the 24.69 kilometer Mina Clavero - Giulio Césare stage and then fifth in the final and famous El Cóndor section.
“I am very happy for the team that we are driving over the podium, everyone has worked extremely hard for this,” commented Gilles. “If you look at the results, the only team to have both its cars at the finish is Citroën; all the other manufacturers also only got one car to the finish. This year's event was very very difficult, but Kristian was fifth and would have been fourth yesterday. We have something to be pleased about.”
The ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the contenders back to Europe for high-speed action in Scandinavia. Rally Finland (August 6-8) is one of the most technically challenging and spectacular events in the series and the Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports WRC team will be fielding local man Kristian Sohlberg alongside Gilles Panizzi.
