Makinen buoyed by new Lancer

The Finn drove his new mount - scheduled to make its debut in Sanremo next month - for two days in France earlier this week. He already believes that the heavy revisions compared to the outgoing 'Evo 6.5' Lancer will help him to continue his title push, which faltered in Finland last month.

"The new car is brand new, a completely different machine to the old one," said Makinen, "but already I've got a good feeling with it. The suspension and engine feel very different. I managed about 500km without major problems and it's very encouraging.

"The biggest difference is really in corners," he added. "In high-speed turns the McPherson suspension at the rear makes things better. And our exit speed from corners seems better as well. Of course we didn't do back-to-back tests with the old model on this test but I feel there are quite a lot of areas where we have made improvements."

Makinen's title bid depends on the new Lancer WRC, since it will have to tackle two asphalt rallies and two gravel events in its first seven weeks of competition. He's optimistic that Ralliart's engineers have provided him with a good package. "We still have plenty of things to do," he said, "because it's a new car after all. But I feel very confident. When you consider that we've really only tested the car for about two weeks it's very encouraging to have such a good feeling already."

The glowing report for the new car will come as comfort to Ralliart, which has to renegotiate with sponsor Marlboro and Makinen himself about the 2002 season in the coming weeks.