2000 TOPICS

Uwe Nittel won the 2000 Rally Master in Argentina with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N

Uwe Nittel celebrates his victory in the 2000 Group N Rally Master

Seven Mitsubishi drivers who have won at least one round of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship in Group N gathered in Argentina to contest the 2000 Rally Master last weekend (Friday 15 and Saturday 16 December). They were joined by Swedish star Stig Blomqvist and eight local production cars drivers on the purpose-built circuit at Villa Carlos Paz, which is well-known to the rally fans for having hosted the first two special stages of the 2000 Rally Argentina. Villa Carlos Paz is a holiday resort located 30 kilometres from Cordoba, where the South American round of the World Rally Championship has its headquarters.

Manfred Stohl, who was recently crowned 2000 Group N World Champion after his victories in Monte Carlo, New Zealand, Corsica and Great Britain, answered enthusiastically to the invitation of the organisers. Challenging the Austrian was Jani Paasonen, from Finland (winner in Sweden and in his home event), Miguel Campos from Portugal (winner in his home country), Uwe Nittel from Germany (winner in Spain) and Gianluigi Galli from Italy (winner of the category in the Sanremo Rally) represented Europe, while local drivers Gabriel Pozzo (winner of the Acropolis Rally) and Claudio Menzi (winner of the Safari Rally) had the benefit of competing on home territory.

Winners of Group N in WRC events line up together with local production cars drivers

These seven drivers took victory in Group N in 11 of the 14 rounds of the 2000 FIA World Rally Championship, the remaining three having been won by Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles, four times Group N World Champion, who could unfortunately not be present in Villa Carlos Paz. Mitsubishi has been unrivalled in the series since the Rally of Great Britain 1999, taking an unprecedented 15 consecutive wins with either Lancer Evolutions or Carisma GTs.

To add to the thrill of the action, Stig Blomqvist, who defeated Bruno Thiry to win the 1999 edition of the Rally Master, was also present. The Swede, who was crowned World Rally Champion in 1984 and has claimed 11 outright victories in his career, has announced his intention to contest the 2001 Group N World Cup with a Mitsubishi Carisma GT prepared in Great Britain by David Sutton (Cars) Ltd.

Uwe Nittel and Manfred Stohl with their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N on the purpose built circuit at Villa Carlos Paz

Eight thousand spectators gathered inside the Pro Racing Complex, around the beautiful 3.34 km track, where two cars compete simultaneously. The event started with qualifying rounds which opposed the eight stars to the local drivers, all driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. One of those was Marcos Ligato, who will join Gabriel Pozzo in the all-Argentinean Cordoba Rally Team which will enter two Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions in the series. Claudio Menzi has decided not to continue his World Rally Championship career. During this preliminary phase, where the drivers had to complete two runs in darkness, Pozzo survived a massive crash after clipping a bank, while Uwe Nittel was faster than Manfred Stohl by a slim margin of six-tenths of a second.

As Gianluigi Galli and Miguel Campos were both eliminated when they went off the track, four drivers remained for the semi-final. Manfred Stohl defeated Claudio Menzi and the promising Marcos Ligato was beaten by Uwe Nittel. The German driver took an easy victory in the final, when Stohl suffered an engine misfire which did not allow him to challenge his rival.