RallySport Magazine September 2016

15 YEARS AGO ....
SEPTEMBER 2001
NEW IMPREZA FOR HERRIDGE
Leading Australian Group N driver Dean Herridge returned from Japan where he
tested the new Group N Subaru Impreza WRX that he will drive in both the Rally of
New Zealand and Rally Australia.
Along with Japanese driver Konishi, Herridge will drive for the Japanese Subaru outfit in
a new shape Impreza, with regular co-driver Jim Carlton calling the pacenotes.
THOMPSON LICKS HIS WOUNDS
It wasn’t so much the physical damage that had been done to the car, but the remorse
that 20 year old Mark Thompson felt after crashing Mitsubishi’s second-string Group
N rally car at the pre-Saxon Safari test day.
“Bob Riley was actually quite good about the whole affair, urging me to put it behind
me and concentrate on getting my own car ready for the rally,” Thompson told ARN.
Still, it’s not everyone who can walk away from a 5th gear, 5,000 rpm crash that almost
totally destroys a rally car. “Iain Stewart told
me it was the biggest crash he’d ever had,” a
bemused Thompson added.
BOURNE NEARS 6TH TITLE
Possum Bourne has all but clinched his sixth
successive Australian Rally Championship
crown after a hard-fought win in the Saxon
Safari Tasmania, the fourth round of the
national titles.
Together with co-driver Craig Vincent, Bourne
outlasted a determined drive from the Toyota
of Neal Bates and Coral Taylor to take victory in
both heats.
Team-mates Cody Crocker and Greg Foletta,
meanwhile, made the most of clutch problems
to the Ed Ordynski/Iain Stewart Mitsubishi
Lancer to take a double Group N win.
NEW LANCER WORLD RALLY CAR
Mitsubishi Motors is embarking on a new
and exciting chapter in its motorsports
history by creating its first World Rally Car.
Known as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
WRC, it will make its first FIA World Rally
Championship appearance on Italy’s Sanremo
Rally.
It is designed to be the most advanced, most
sophisticated competition car that Mitsubishi
has yet produced.
ATKINSON EMERGES
The Falken Tyres Rally Team announced just
before the Saxon Safari that Chris Atkinson
had joined Steven Shepheard in their two-car
rally team for the final two rounds of the 2001
Australian Rally Championship.
Subaru’s Possum Bourne all but
clinched his sixth ARC title.
Neal Bates in Tasmania
in his Corolla World Rally Car.
NEXT
ISSUE
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76 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016