Mitsubishi's involvement in rallying dates back to the 1960s and it has since established teams across the globe, from Japan to Australia and in a number of European countries.

Directed by Andrew Cowan, formerly a distinguished marathon rally driver, it works closely with Mitsubishi's Research & Development department in Japan, which prepares the engines and much of the transmission.

Mitsubishis earned their reputation as unbreakable cars best suited to marathon rallies, but the latest versions of the Lancer have made the team a formidable opponent in any circumstances, the teams first major title coming when Kenneth Eriksson carried off the Asia-Pacific Championship and winning two World Championship rallies in 1995.

Tommi Makinen won the World Championship in '96, '97,'98 and '99 to establish Mitsubishi as a the dominant force in World Championship rallying. But in 2000 the Group A Lancer met its match in the new breed of World Rally Cars, the brilliant Makinen won only in Monte Carlo, and the marque finished the season fourth in the Manufacturers standings

For the year 2001 Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart fields an unchanged driver line-up, Tommi Makinen and Belgian star Freddy Loix. They start the year in "interim" World Rally Car versions of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Carisma GT models while the Team is developing its first "pure" World Rally Car which is expected to appear in October.