Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports News
12th Baja Spain Aragon 2005
FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, round 3
For immediate release
Friday, July 15th, 2005
MITSUBISHI MOTORS REPSOL TEAM ENTERS THREE
CARS IN 12th BAJA SPAIN ARAGON 2005
Spain’s Roma to drive Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution in home event;
Dakar winner Peterhansel and Alphand complete Mitsubishi’s strong team
ZARAGOZA, Spain – The Mitsubishi Motors Repsol Team has entered three Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolutions in the 12th Baja Spain Aragon, round three of this year’s FIA International Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, which starts in Zaragoza on Thursday, July 22nd.
Spaniard Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and Andorra-based co-driver Henri Magne will be joined by the defending Dakar champions St?phane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret and this year’s Rally of Tunisia winners Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard on the three-day event.
Roma joined the Mitsubishi Motor Repsol Team in October last season and has gone on to take a second place, a sixth and two fourth places in his short career as a driver, since making the switch from two to four wheel rallying. He will drive an MPR10 version of Mitsubish’s Pajero/Montero Evolution, which has won the grueling Dakar Rally in various guises for the last five years.
Mitsubishi spent two weeks testing a new MPR12 version of the car in northern Morocco last month instead of tackling the Masters Rally, but Roma’s team mates Peterhansel and Alphand will drive MPR11 versions of the Pajero/Montero Evolution over the punishing central Spanish rural terrain where outside temperatures in July can reach 40 degrees.
The Baja Spain Aragon joined the FIA World Cup in 1993 and has been a successful hunting ground for Mitsubishi drivers in recent years. Portugal’s Carlos Sousa finished second overall in 2002 and won the event last year in a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution on his way to the outright FIA Baja title. Alphand won the event for the first time in 2003, before joining the Mitsubishi team.
~This is not only an important race for our sponsors, but also for the Mitsubishi team,~ said MMSP’s Team Director Dominique Serieys. ~It is crucial that we not only test and develop the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution in the desert, but also over WRC-type tracks like those found in Spain.
~On the next Dakar, particularly in Guinea and Black Africa, we will find many of these stages and need to ensure that we are fully prepared for the challenge that lies ahead.~
Organised by Octagon Esedos and the RACE (Royal Automovil Club Espana), the event will again be based at the city of Zaragoza. After scrutineering and documentation on Thursday, July 21st, the timed special stage to determine starting orders takes place in Huesca on Friday, July 22nd.
Leg one gets underway on Saturday, July 23rd and offers two runs through a 300 kms selective section. The second and final leg takes place on Sunday and consists of a single run through a 200 kms selective section. All the competitive action takes place in the Aragon provinces of Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza.
Ends
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For further information please contact Florian Moser, MMSP?s Communications Department:
MMSP GmbH
Adam-Opel-Str. 4
D 65468 Trebur-Astheim
Florian Moser
Telephone +49 (0) 172 6697 578
Telefax +49 (0) 6147-203 599
E-mail f.moser@mitsubishi-motor-sports.com