I hear you on the last Lancer WRC looking a bit odd. As a form-follows-function guy, I can appreciate the wing out back. The way it was explained to me by a Mitsubishi engineer, the purpose was to generate as much down force as close to the rear wheels as possible. If it did a better job of that, then I'm all for it.

And I do recall the hard times faced by Mitsu when this Lancer hit the WRC circuit after their four year absence. It was exciting to hear they were back, even if Tommi wasn't behind the wheel, but I remember one of the first events of that season, they ran two cars. The first one withdrew because of alternator failure early in the first day and the other met with the same problem the next day. That was disappointing for sure. To think that they went to all the trouble to get back into WRC, only to have both cars suffer alternator failures was a tough pill to swallow.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Phil!

I never liked the Lancer WRC much. The weird spoiler and the weird decision to make it not look like an Evo, plus the fact that it was so miserably unsuccessful. IIRC it was called “the big red bus” in WRC circles :D