Start Order - SCCA ProRally - Rim of the World
May 2002
Start Order & Late Breaking News:
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship Round 4 - Rim of the World
PALMDALE, California A record starting lineup of 79 performance rally cars
from North America and the world are slated to begin the two-day Rim of the
World Rally at 7:00PM Friday evening, following a 30-minute parade of all the
rally cars at the host hotel. The rally cars return to Palmdale after
midnight, and restart the second day of rallying at noon on Saturday,
following a morning of rally festivities including a charity RallySprint and
Parc Expose of all the cars entered.
Selected Entries, News
· All three works teams had a rough time at Oregon Trail two weeks ago, and
have been working hard to get the bugs out of their systems during this short
break - and Hyundai is most confident that their new car teething problems
are behind them now. "The transmission problems we had at Oregon don't seem
to be nearly as serious as we originally suspected," commented team boss John
Buffum at the manufacturer's media reception earlier today in Long Beach;
"but we are going to keep an eye on Rod." The Rod he is referring to is Rod
Millen, who will be taking over Rhys Millen's Evo VI - said Buffum: "He will
be fast here…no question."
· Paul Choiniere, who has had a very challenging start to the season, with
three mechanical DNF's in three starts, finally got a bit of luck in the
traditional start order draw for top seed drivers - and will be first on the
road tomorrow. With the cars in perfect condition, this may be the break the
8-time champion has been needing to get his championship chances jumpstarted.
· Subaru/Prodrive, now sitting in 3rd place in manufacturers points, needs
a great weekend as well - and is poised to get it. Struggling with
transmission problems of their own, the team has been furiously testing over
the last several days, and hopes their troubles have been banished from this
important weekend. Many eyes will be on them too - as this weekend
celebrates the first anniversary of the groundbreaking WRX going on sale here
in the USA. With huge owner appreciation festivities planned in conjunction
with the rally, including WRC driver Petter Solberg being flown in for the
occasion from the UK, this is a crucial weekend for Subaru to do well.
· Keeping the works teams on their toes will be three top teams from 2001
making their season debuts: Richard Tuthill and John Bennie return in their
Winning Makes prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evo/Mirage combination car, and
series veteran Lon Peterson, with John Elkin bring back their surprisingly
quick Knight Racing automatic transmissioned Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS turbo.
2001 Group N champion and former Prodrive pilot Karl Scheible makes his debut
in an all-new 2002 WRX.
· "Stage Notes," which made their USA debut two weeks ago at Oregon Trail
have gained a stronger following for Rim, with better than 2/3rds of the
field opting for the books - said one entrant "I really feel blind not using
them now." The notes give co-drivers a highly detailed set of route
instructions to interpret for the driver, earned high praise from skeptics
and fans alike two weeks ago.
· Weather forecast: the conditions this weekend are exceedingly dry - no
rain is in the forecast, nor has there been in sometime, so high levels of dus
t are going to be the norm, not the exception. This plays well for Paul
Choiniere, who will benefit as first car on the road. Typical of this time
of the year in Palmdale, daytime temps will be a perfect for rally mid to
upper 60's, with near freezing temperatures in the upper elevations at night.
Information regarding the start order list:
Car # = number on vehicle. Cars with numbers under 200 are Pro entries. Car
numbered over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants, with first
digit denoting their home division (2,3 = West coast, 5 = Central US, 8,9
East coast).
Group = Vehicle category: Open, Gr N - fastest; are cars with considerable
modifications; P (Production) - slowest; are cars very near showroom stock
configuration. G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars; G2 - two wheel drive
lower horsepower cars; GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars.
Entry = event entered. Nat= SCCA ProRally, Club=SCCA ClubRally
Rim of the World - SCCA ProRally Championship Round 4
3-4 May, 2002
Top 25 Start Order (subject to revision - complete list available at
www.rimoftheworldrally.com )
Start Car# Seed Class Driver Name Co-Driver Car
1 6 0 Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 03 Hyundai Tiburon
2 1 0 Open Mark Lovell Steve Turvey 02 Subaru WRX
3 5 0 Open Mark Higgins Michael Gibson 03 Hyundai Tiburon
4 16 FIA Open David Higgins Daniel Barritt 02 Subaru WRX
5 61 0 Open Karl Scheible Wayne Scheible 02 Subaru WRX
6 4 0 Open Rod Millen Cal Coatsworth 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
7 13 0 Open Richard Tuthill John Bennie 00 Mitsubishi Mirage
8 3 1 Open Rhys Millen Garry Cowan 01 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
9 2 1 Open Ramana Lagemann Michael Kidd 02 Subaru WRX
10 107 1 Open Tim Paterson John Allen 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
11 110 1 Open Mark Nelson Charles Bradley 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
12 32 1 Open Paul Eklund Scott Huhn 02 Subaru WRX
13 34 1 Open Peter Lahm Tony Lumino 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
14 22 1 Open Ralph Kosmides James Brandt 99 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi
15 52 1 G5 Doug Shepherd Peter Gladysz 02 Dodge Neon SRT-4
16 37 2 Open Tony Chavez Eddie Cardenas 91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
17 48 2 Open Lon Peterson John Elkin 00 Subaru Impreza
18 275 2 Open Nat T-Stow Ben Bradley 02 Subaru WRX
19 51 2 G5 Jay Streets Janice Damitio 83 Volvo 740 turbo
20 28 2 G2 Bill Malik Christian Edstrom 93 Volvo 240
21 374 3 Open Leon Styles John Dillon 91 Audi quattro S2
22 397 3 Open Rui Brazil TBA 91 Audi quattro S2
23 891 3 Open Randy Zimmer Russell Strate Jr 96 Subaru Impreza
24 88 3 Open Doug Havir Scott Putnam 02 Subaru WRX
25 124 3 N Peter Workum Alex Gelsomino 00 Subaru Impreza
