Dominant Mitsubishis Take on the Oregon Forest

Lancer Evolutions and Last Year's Winner Challenge Oregon Trails SCCA ProRally

CYPRESS, Calif., July 9 -- Combine this season's foremost car and last year's winning drivers duo and stir in more than 120 miles of twisting, narrow logging roads for this weekend's Oregon Trail round near Hillsboro and you have a recipe for continued Mitsubishi domination of this season's nine-event SCCA ProRally Championship.

Driving in one of a pair of brand new red-and-silver Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America's Michelin-shod, all-wheel-drive, 400-plus horsepower, race- prepared Open Class Lancer Evolutions, the British driving duo of David Higgins and co-driver Daniel Barritt will be striving for a repeat of their 2002 Oregon Trail Open Class victory.

Currently leading in championship points, Higgins and Barritt have been on a fast and furious pace in the ProRally Championship. The duo's world-class gravel driving skills have made them a nearly unassailable force this season, winning three of the four SCCA ProRally Championship events so far.

Battling the British duo for victory will be California-native Lauchlin O'Sullivan, with co-driver Christian Edstrom at his side. They will keep the pressure on Higgins and the rest of the SCCA ProRally drivers in an identical Open Class Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

Higgins and O'Sullivan pilot 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.

"SCCA ProRally gives us a natural showcase to demonstrate the Lancer Evolution's tremendous performance capabilities to the world," says Pierre Gagnon, chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.

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.