Mitsubishi Dominates SCCA ProRally

New Factory Motor Sports Team Closes in on Several National Championship Titles

RUMFORD, Maine, Aug. 4 -- Five national rallies, five consecutive wins. David Higgins and co-driver Daniel Barritt dominated the 80-plus-car field during the 118-mile Maine Forest Sports Car Club of America ProRally here this weekend in their all-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

The win at the Maine Forest ProRally leaves Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America's premier rally team just one event away from clinching the manufacturers, Open Class, and overall driver's and co-driver's titles.

The first place finish marks the fifth win in the last six SCCA events that comprise the nine-event SCCA ProRally Championship Series. The only non-podium finish was the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Higgins' winning pattern is becoming all too familiar to his Open Class rivals. Early on, he took the lead on Maine's rain-damped forest roads and showed rally fans the enormous performance capabilities of Mitsubishi's race-tuned version of the new high-performance Lancer Evolution sport sedan.

"This race was perfect," said Higgins shortly after emerging from his red-and-silver Lancer Evolution bearing the number one on the door. "The team had the car setup perfect, and these the types of flowing, twisting gravel roads suit my driving style very well. This is the first time this year that I really pushed the car hard on every stage. It was a lot of fun."

It was also a good day for Mitsubishi teammates Lauchlin O'Sullivan and co-driver Christian Edstrom who had their best podium finish of the season. They battled Paul Choiniere in a Hyundai Tiburon the entire way. The two ended up with identical times (to the second), tying for second place at the end of 118-miles of racing stages -- an unheard of happening in ProRally.

O'Sullivan's finish places him solidly in second place in the national rankings while further stretching Mitsubishi Motors lead over rival Subaru in the Manufacturer's Championship race. Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America heads to Bemidji, Minnesota, August 22-23 for the Ojibwe Forests ProRally and a chance to lock up the SCCA national championship.

Team Mitsubishi Motor Sports America has begun to build their legacy on US soil just as Mitsubishi has excelled in the World Rally Championship over the last decade. Now, with the street legal Lancer Evolution rapidly gaining stronger than expected sales momentum, and the ProRally Lancer Evolutions growing points lead in the SCCA ProRally Championship, Mitsubishi enthusiasts have a double dose of true Evolution performance.

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.