MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION MPR14 |
|
|
MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION MPR13 |
|
|
MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION MPR13 |
|
|
One month after kicking off its 2008 campaign with the Central Europe Rally in Hungary and Romania, Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart will travel to the other side of Europe for its second competitive outing of the season, Portugal's Rali Transiberico.
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and its motorsport unit MMSP will contest the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup event with a line-up of two Pajero/Montero Evolution MPR13s for Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (France) and Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard (France), plus a diesel-powered MPR14 for Juan 'Nani' Roma/Lucas Cruz (Spain).
Roma, who finished 2nd overall with the Pajero/Montero Evolution on the Portuguese event in 2005 and 2006, has been entrusted with continuing the important development groundwork with the new MPR14 which made its debut in the hands of team-mate Hiroshi Masuoka (Japan) on April's Central Europe Rally. The maiden appearance of the new diesel-powered MPR14 was prematurely halted on that event, however, when Masuoka's co-driver Pascal Maimon (France) fractured his ankle in a freak accident. Even so, the experience still enabled the team to gather a great deal of valuable data about the MPR14 and it now intends to profit from the five days of competition in Portugal to build on this information.
Like those of Hungary and Romania, the stages of the Rali Transiberico are more like the sort of terrain associated with the WRC (World Rally Championship) than with traditional cross-country rally territory. The Pajero/Montero Evolution’s unique pedigree was essentially forged in the wide, open spaces of northwest Africa, but the Portuguese fixture forms an important part of Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart's preparations for the 2009 Dakar which marks a switch to South America where the terrain promises to be much more varied than the usual trans-Sahara trail.
As in 2007, the 2008 Rali Transiberico will start and finish in the Portuguese casino resort of Estoril, west of Lisbon. The format includes an incursion into Spain with an overnight stop in Badajoz, as well as bivouacs in Castelo Branco and Evora which are respectively northeast and east of Lisbon.
Again compared with 2007, the programme of this year's event features an extra day of competition which takes the total number of stages to nine, the majority of which according to the organisers will be about 200km in length for a total competitive distance of around 1,520km and a total route length of approximately 2,600km.
After Portugal, Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart's 2008 calendar continues with the Baja Espana Aragon (July 17-20), the scene of an emphatic one-two finish for the Pajero/Montero Evolution in the hands of Stéphane Peterhansel and Nani Roma in 2007.
|
|
1
|
Stephane Peterhansel
Jean-Paul Cottret |
F
F |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION |
T1 |
2
|
Nasser Al-Attiyah
Tina Thorner |
QAT
S |
BMW X3 CC |
T1 |
3
|
Luc Alphand
Gilles Picard |
F
F |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION |
T1 |
4
|
Joan Roma
Lucas Cruz |
E
E |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO EVOLUTION |
T1 |
5
|
Miguel Barbosa
Miguel Ramalho |
P
P |
PROTO DESSOUDE 4X4 |
T1 |
6
|
Orlando Terranova
Lee Palmer |
RA
AUS |
BMW X3 CC |
T1 |
7
|
Francesc Termens
Alberto Pascoal |
E
E |
MITSUBISHI MONTERO |
T2 |
8
|
Krysztof Holowczyc
Jean-Marc Fortin |
POL
B |
NISSAN NAVARA OVERDRIVE |
T1 |
9
|
Filipe Campos
Jaime Baptista |
P
P |
BMW X3 CC |
T1 |
10
|
Leonid Novistsky
Oleg Tyupenkin |
RUS
RUS |
BMW X3 CC |
T1 |
11
|
Pedro Silva Nunes
Paulo Torres |
P
P |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO |
T2 |
12
|
Andrey Ivanov
Alexey Kuzmitch |
RUS
RUS |
NISSAN PATROL GR |
T2 |
14
|
Alberto Dorsch
Carlos Bravo |
E
E |
TOYOTA LAND CRUISER |
T2 |
15
|
Miguel Farrajota
Nelson Ramos |
P
P |
DEPIERES PROTO RAV 4 |
T1 |
16
|
Lukasz Komornicki
Rafal Marton |
POL
POL |
SMG BUGGY |
T1 |
17
|
Balazs Szalay
Laszlo Bunkoczi |
HON
HON |
OPEL ANTARA RR |
T1 |
18
|
Nelson Clemente
Paulo Fiuza |
P
P |
NISSAN PATHFINDER |
T2 |
19
|
Manuel Plaza
Jesus Moran |
E
E |
MITSUBISHI L200 |
T1 |
20
|
Bernardo da Maia
Joana Sotto-Mayor |
P
P |
BMW X3 CC |
T1 |
21
|
Ricardo Leal dos Santos
|
P
|
BMW X5 |
T1 |
22
|
Helder Oliveira
Jose Marques |
P
P |
NISSAN PATHFINDER |
T1 |
23
|
Josep Vendrell
Joan Soler |
E
E |
MITSUBISHI MONTERO |
T2 |
24
|
Jorge Simoes
Anibal Mendona |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T2 |
25
|
Jose Martins
Mario Feio |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T1 |
26
|
Alexandra Gameiro
Diva Teixeira |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T1 |
27
|
Mario Lucas
Francisco Luis |
P
P |
MITSUBISHI MONTERO |
T2 |
28
|
Roberto Caporale
Giacomo Tognarini |
I
I |
MITSUBISHI L200 |
T1 |
30
|
Pedro Grancha
Luis Ramalho |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA OFF |
T1 |
31
|
Nuno Inocencio
Sergio Cosme |
P
P |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO |
T1 |
32
|
Joao Ramos
Vitor Jesus |
P
P |
TOYOTA RAV 4 |
T1 |
33
|
Rodrigo Amaral
Duarte Amaral |
P
P |
BOWLER WILDCAT |
T1 |
34
|
Janis Naglis
Janis Junior |
LV
LV |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO |
T1 |
35
|
Lino Carapeta
Ricardo Corticadas |
P
P |
BOWLER WILDCAT |
T1 |
36
|
Antonio Mendes
Joao Luz |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T1 |
37
|
Fernando Andre
Luis Gomes |
P
P |
RENAULT MEGANE |
T1 |
38
|
Jose Gameiro
Antonio Saraiva |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T1 |
39
|
Greg Macleod
Oliver Ford |
GB
GB |
BOWLER NEMESIS |
T1 |
40
|
Richard Hayward
Alex Cole |
GB
GB |
BOWLER NEMESIS |
T1 |
41
|
Ilya Kuznetsov
Konstantin Mescheryakov |
RUS
RUS |
MITSUBISHI L200 |
T1 |
43
|
Pablo Rodriguez
Jesus Ruiz |
E
E |
BMW X5 |
T1 |
44
|
Artur Aravichus
Denis Berezovsky |
LV
LV |
NISSAN PATROL GR |
T2 |
45
|
Yekin Tatishev
Antanas Juknevicius |
LV
LV |
NISSAN PATHFINDER R50 |
T2 |
46
|
Francisco Esperto
Fernando Miguel |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T2 |
47
|
Edgar Condenso
Nuno Silva |
P
P |
ISUZU D-MAX |
T2 |
48
|
Philipe Meyer
Dominique Bas |
F
F |
MITSUBISHI L200 |
T1 |
49
|
Jorge Cunha
Paulo Caiado |
P
P |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO PROTO DID |
T1 |
50
|
Rui Costa
Nuno Alves |
P
P |
RENAULT PROTO |
T1 |
51
|
Isaac Adell
Jose Penarada |
E
E |
MITSUBISHI MONTERO |
T2 |
52
|
Antonio Sousa
Jose Magalhaes |
P
P |
BOWLER WILDCAT 200 |
T1 |
53
|
Afonso Batista
Jose Marques |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T1 |
54
|
Luis Ferreira
Renato Machado |
P
P |
LAND ROVER DEFENDER |
T1 |
55
|
Jose de Dios
Luis Alcoba |
E
E |
TOYOTA LAND CRUISER |
T2 |
56
|
Antonio Silva
Henrique Santos |
P
P |
MITSUBISHI PAJERO |
T1 |
57
|
Manuel Rosa
Pedro Costa |
P
P |
NISSAN NAVARA |
T1 |
