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Mitsubishi R5 Rally Car to Make WRC 2 Debut in 2015

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Mitsubishi R5

Mitsubishi R5

It has been revealed that the 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage will be ducking into the phone booth, ripping off its glasses, and emerging from the phone booth as the Mitsubishi R5 rally car for the 2015 World Rally Car 2 season.

“A great deal of thought has gone into the design and development of this car,” says Mitsubishi R5 developer Thomas Weng. “We have kept it as simple and efficient as possible and have used as many Mitsubishi parts as we can. We are confident this will make the car straightforward to maintain and has enabled us to offer it at a competitive price.”

“So far customer enquiries have exceeded our expectations and confirmed sales have already reached double figures,” he added.


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A test program is set to get underway this month, and Mitsubishi intends to enter it into its first event in the early going of 2015. It will compete against vehicles such as the Ford Fiesta ST, Citroen DS3, and Peugeot 208.

The Mitsubishi R5 will be powered by a 1.6-liter four-pot that generates 279 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque, mated to a five-speed Sadev sequential transmission and riding on a 4WD system. The suspension will use MacPherson struts and Ohlins dampers and the brakes are AP 4-pot front and rear ventilated disc brakes.

Mitsubishi R5

The first batch of Mirages arrived in Sweden this week, awaiting the transformation to Mitsubishi R5 rally cars

The first batch of donor cars arrived in Sweden earlier this week, and they will be developed into R5s by the team at Mpart/Ralliart Sweden. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.


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