Mitsubishi has unveiled the car it hopes will return the Japanese giant to World Rally Championship glory.

The Lancer WRC04 heralds a return to the top flight for Mitsubishi after a year on the sidelines. The company made the decision to sit out the 2003 season so it could evaluate its position and go back to the drawing board with a car that had failed to live up to the glory days of 1996-1999 when Tommi Makinen took four straight world titles.

The new car looks physically different to its predecessor, the Lancer Evo WRC, and features some 6000 changes under the skin. Despite this, the car that will start the 2004 championship in Monte Carlo will be the only factory WRC machine which does not feature an active centre differential. It will instead use an epicyclic differential, making it possibly the most conservative WRC car since the category's inception in 1997.

In addition, the car will use a manual gearchange and MacPherson suspension all round. Other changes include a switch from Xtrac transmission to an FFD Ricardo system and Brembo rather than AP brakes.

The man responsible for the design of the WRC04, Mario Fornaris, has admitted the car will undergo development as the season progresses.

"My philosophy is to do simple things and to have a good understanding of them before going on. The other reason is time," he said. Regarding the decision not to use an active diff, he explained that it was "not a priority," although a semi-automatic gearchange may be used at some point.

Two Lancer WRC04s will appear in Monte Carlo with number one Gilles Panizzi being joined by Gianluigi Galli - one of the team's junior drivers. Fellow junior Kristian Sohlberg will get his chance in Sweden. Mitsubishi has yet to decide whether Galli, Sohlberg or third junior Daniel Sola will get the chance to drive the second car for the third round of the series, the Corona Rally Mexico.

Mitsubishi Motor Sports chief Sven Quandt is keen to run three cars so that the juniors get as much experience as possible but has admitted that that will only really happen when the supply of cars and spares has improved, perhaps in the summer.

Taken from www.wrc.com

Click here for Mitsubishi's Official WRC 04 Launch web page.

Click here for Top Gear's story on the WRC 04.