Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports News
Orpi Rally of Morocco
FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, round 3
For immediate release
Monday, May 16th, 2005
MITSUBISHI MOTORS REPSOL ATS STUDIOS TEAM
ENTERS PETERHANSEL AND ROMA IN RALLY OF MOROCCO
Defending Dakar Rally champion to drive Rally of Tunisia-winning car;
Spaniard Roma faces first Moroccan rally with Mitsubishi Motors team
The Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios Team has entered defending Dakar Rally champion St?phane Peterhansel and his co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret and Spaniard Joan ‘Nani’ Roma with co-driver Henri Magne in the 2005 Orpi Rally of Morocco, round three of this year’s FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. The event starts in Agadir on Wednesday, May 25th, and finishes on Sunday, May 29th.
The team has entered Peterhansel in Luc Alphand’s Rally of Tunisia-winning Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution, where he teams up with Roma and Magne in an MPR10 version of the Pajero/Montero Evolution they used in the Dakar.
Frenchman Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret clinched victory in last year’s Moroccan event by the margin of 23 minutes and 36 seconds and will be bidding to win their first event this season since clinching victory for a second successive season in the Dakar Rally in January and after he finished second overall in March?s Patagonia-Atacama Rally.
~Morocco will be a great opportunity for us to see what level our
competitors have reached at this point in the season,~ said MMSP’s Team
Director Dominique Serieys. ~The competition between Mitsubishi, Jean-Louis Schlesser and the factory Volkswagens is sure to be exciting and we will be pushing hard to take the outright win. Our competitors have reached a higher level this year and Morocco will give us a good idea where we can improve to stay ahead of the field.~
After the Rally of Morocco, the Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios team plans a series of test sessions throughout the summer and autumn, before the new Evolution 4 version of the Pajero/Montero is used for the first time in competition, either in September’s Egypt Rally or in the United Arab Emirates in November.
Arranged by the Neveu-Pelletier Organization (NPO), the Orpi Rally of
Morocco uses a southerly route through the remote Moroccan deserts, near the Atlantic coast, for a second successive season and is again based in Agadir.
Copyright free photographs for editorial media only can be downloaded from www.mmsp-media.com and www.mitsubishi-motors.com
For further information please contact Florian Moser,
Head of MMSP?s Communications Department:
MMSP GmbH
Adam-Opel-Str. 4
D 65468 Trebur-Astheim
Telephone +49 (0) 6147-203 596
Telefax +49 (0) 6147-203 599
E-mail info@mitsubishi-motor-sports.com