Delecour joins Mitsubishi - The  2001 world rally championship is already far behind us as the first attempts made by François Delecour aboard the Mitsubishi Lancer WRC can confirm. The co-driver of Daniel Grataloup, who was injured in an incident in the longest stage of the Rally Australia, the 45km long Wellington Dam stage, attended with a very attentive eye his first laps back behind the wheel and the return beside his favorite driver is now foreseen at the beginning of January.

Taking advantage of a beautiful day on the roads of the South of France, Delecour took in hand the car that he will try to impress with on the roads of Monte Carlo, which traditionally sees in the start of the new season. For the French driver, already haven driven with Peugeot and Ford, François is going to participate in a quite another adventure with Mitsubishi as he succeeds Tommi Makinen, four time World champion with the Asian manufacturer.

Four-times FIA World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen got his first taste of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution World Rally Car this week when he put the new challenger through its paces during a six-day asphalt test near Nice, France. The Finn, who is hoping the new car will help him seal a fifth world title this year, was impressed from the outset.

"It was absolutely a good feeling straight away, a big difference to our current car", enthused Tommi. "Everything is very good, and better; the balance between the front and rear, the grip, the response for a fast change in direction, and there is also a big change with the engine. It revs higher and there is more power, which means we can go longer distances without changing gear, which is a positive thing. Of course it’s difficult to say what we can do in Sanremo as we haven’t done back-to-back tests with the current car, but for sure I feel very positive and my immediate feeling is that we have something faster and better".