Mitsubishi Sets Sights on Pikes Peak Win

ProRally Team Brings Fast and Furious Pace to the Race to the Clouds

CYPRESS, Calif., June 20 -- In the world of motorsports, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb ranks as one of the world's classic events. As the second-oldest consecutively run auto race in the U.S., it's the ultimate test of man and machine -- a 12.4-mile sprint along a ribbon of gravel with no guardrails that climbs more than a mile through 156 turns along cliffs that drop off more than 2,000 feet.

Now a part of the nine-race SCCA ProRally schedule, the 81st running of the "Race to the Clouds" on June 28th, is also where Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America's SCCA ProRally team is poised to put an indelible mark in the record book behind team drivers David Higgins and Lauchlin O'Sullivan and their formidable Lancer Evolutions.

Team Mitsubishi's Higgins and co-driver Daniel Barritt, driving a race- prepared Michelin-shod, all-wheel-drive, 450 horsepower Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, have been on a fast and furious pace in the SCCA's ProRally Championship. The duo comes to the matriarch of the mountains seeking their fourth consecutive victory in as many races.

"Pikes Peak has always represented a passionate testament for pushing the automotive performance envelope," says Pierre Gagnon, chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America. "We're thrilled to be part of this challenge and to continue to demonstrate the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution's tremendous capabilities to the world."

Pikes Peak holds very fond memories for Team Mitsubishi teammate O'Sullivan. Last year, as a Pikes Peak rookie in a Lancer Evolution 6.5, he finished third in the highly competitive ProRally Open Class. With a faster, more powerful team "Evo" at his command this season, he's looking to thrill Mitsubishi fans with an even higher podium finish.

Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America will also bring thrills to downtown Colorado Springs the evening of June 26th, when guest Freestyle Moto-x star Carey Hart performs a Freestyle Moto-x stunt demonstration before an expected 20,000 race fans attending the Mitsubishi Fan Festival. Hart will exhibit his radical stunts while airborne over the Team Mitsubishi ProRally cars.

Team Mitsubishi's red-and-silver ProRally cars are race-tuned versions of the all-wheel-drive, 271-horsepower Lancer Evolutions that have garnered wide acclaim among high-performance sports car enthusiasts and automotive magazines since they went on sale in February. Sales have continued to exceed expectations.

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) is responsible for all North American operations of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. As a single company consolidated on January 1, 2003, MMNA and its subsidiaries manufacture, distribute, finance, and market Mitsubishi brand coupes, convertibles, sedans and sport utility vehicles through a network of 700 dealers in the United States.

Mitsubishi Motors sold its first vehicle in the U.S. in 1981 and began building cars here in 1988 at its manufacturing facility in Normal, IL.