After months of hard work and thousands of kilometres of tests in France, Spain and Morocco, the new Mitsubishi Racing Lancer finally made its debut in official competition today. The setting was the Baja Portalegre 500, in a short 6km superspecial and the new turbo-charged Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team car, driven by Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret, finished in seventh position.
The recent rain that has been getting worse all over the Iberian Peninsula left this short stage especially muddy, and a small mistake just before the end meant some precious seconds were lost by the couple made up of Peterhansel and Cottret. The Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team would obviously have preferred to have had a better debut with a faster time but the Repsol driver hit a barrier, this is what has cost him a couple of positions in a classification where only thirteen seconds separate the first ten drivers.
In fact, before the start the Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team was mulling over what exactly to go for – whether to fight for the stage victory and so begin the history of the Racing Lancer in the best possible way, or to sacrifice a little time so as to benefit from a lower place in tomorrow`s starting order. In the end, the race itself made the decision. The second stage of the Baja Portalegre 500 is the longest over the whole weekend, with two special stages of 140km and 259km respectively.
Stéphane Peterhansel
“With all the rain that has fallen here recently, the cold and the mud were not especially easy conditions. And more so as it came directly after a long test session in the South of Morocco which means that right now a lack a little practice on this type of terrain, narrow and slippery. I was not able to find a good pace right away, and I ended up hitting a barrier a few corners from the end. I had a little problem straightening up and getting the car back on track, and some rivals overtook us then, and that made us lose a couple of positions.”
Dominique Serieys
“It was a pity, but no way a catastrophe. Evidently, it would have been great to have set a better time, but the starting order for Stéphane [Peterhansel] and Jean-Paul [Cottret] tomorrow may well be an advantage as a long day is in store for them. Although we would have liked to have got a victory the first time we went out with the Racing Lancer the important thing for us this weekend is to learn all we possibly can about the car on this type of surface, as well as validating some aspects of the development work that we have done for the Dakar.”
