ProRally: Sno*Drift: Notes of interest, starting order

Start Order & Late Breaking News: SCCA® ProRallysm Championship Round # 1 - Sno*Drift

Atlanta, Michigan: The season opening round of the 2003 SCCA ProRally Championship starts tomorrow with a near-record setting field of performance rally cars and drivers from the US, Canada and abroad. The Rally starts at 3:00 PM Friday afternoon, immediately following a Parc Expose of all the cars entered in downtown Lewiston.

Selected late entries, news

* As is rapidly becoming a Sno*Drift tradition, the entry list includes an impressive number of overseas competitors, including 2002 SCCA Overall Driver Champion David Higgins with co-driver Daniel Barritt, making their debut with Mitsubishi Rally Team USA.

Also returning is the 2001 SCCA Overall Driver Champion Mark Lovell with co-driver Nicky Beech returning with Subaru Rally Team USA. 2002 British Rally Champion Jonny Milner, with Duncan McMath alongside starts his "two championships in two countries" bid, and British Rally Championship regular Tapio Laukkanen and Ilkka Riipinen of Finland will be getting their first impression American style winter rallying.

* Team Debuts: several new teams are making their first appearances at Sno*Drift:

* Mitsubishi launches their all-new team, with all-new cars this weekend, featuring David Higgins and Daniel Barritt in the #1 car, and returning 2002 Woodner Cup (overall two-wheel drive) champion Lauchlin O'Sullivan. The new team, managed by SCCA Performance Rally veteran Lance Smith, features all-new Lancer Evolution cars, with engine management by world renowned Mitsubishi tuner HKS.

* AV Sport: The fiercely independent team which last year snapped up the Overall Drivers Championship with David Higgins at the helm, much to the consternation of the Works teams, this year will be fielding the first Ford Focus to be seen in SCCA Open Class. Sponsored by the US Air Force Reserve, and piloted by SCCA Rally veteran (and Air Force Reservist) Tim O'Neil, the Focus is a unique beast, looking very much like a WRC car, but housing potent and proven Ford Escort Cosworth mechanicals.

* Weather forecast: Unlike the last several years, this year's Sno*Drift will be living up to its name - nearly 10 inches of snow have fallen in the area over the last week, and the temperatures are bitterly cold - the highs are predicted to be no more than 15 degrees F. The fresh snow, combined with existing hard pack ice on the roads, and the ProRally Championship's long-standing ban on studded tires, will create a driving challenge unlike virtually any other winter rally event in the world.

For further information, please visit these Web sites: * SCCA ProRally: www.sccaprorally.org/ * SCCA Sno*Drift ProRally: www.sno-drift.org

Information regarding the start order list:
Car # number on vehicle. Cars numbered under 200 are Pro entries. Cars over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants, with first digit denoting their home division (2,3 West coast, 8,9 East coast).

Class Open - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications;
P (Production) - slowest; are cars very near showroom stock configuration.
N (FIA Group N) - production based rally cars built to global competition standards
G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars;
G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars;
GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars. <pre> Top 35 Start Order (subject to revision) Start Car# Seed Class Driver Country Co-Driver Country Car 1 1 0 Open David Higgins Wales Daniel Barritt UK 03 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2 4 0 Open Mark Lovell UK Nicky Beech UK 02 Subaru WRX 3 25 0 Open Seamus Burke USA Charles Bradley USA 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 4 16 0 Open Tapio Laukkanen FIN Ilkka Riipinen FIN 00 Subaru Impreza 5 15 0 Open Jonny Milner UK Duncan McMath UK 02 Subaru WRX 6 5 1 Open Ramana Lagemann USA Michael Orr N Ireland 02 Subaru WRX 7 29 1 Open Tim O'Neil USA Alex Gelsomino USA 03 Ford Focus ZX3 8 6 2 G2 Lauchlin O'Sullivan USA Mark Williams USA 03 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 45 2 N Shane Mitchell USA Paul Donnelly USA 02 Subaru Impreza WRX 10 80 2 Open Jon Kemp USA Rod Hendricksen USA 84 Audi 4000 quattro 11 83 2 N Mark Utecht USA Jeff Secor USA 02 Subaru WRX 12 44 2 N Henry Krolikowski USA Al Kaumeheiwa USA 00 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi 13 78 3 Open Paul Dunn USA Randy Summers USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4 14 103 3 N Wyeth Gubleman USA Therin Pace USA 02 Subaru WRX 15 46 3 G2 Matthew Johnson USA Carl Fisher USA 86 VW Golf GTi 16 50 2 Open Steve Gingras USA Scott Putnam USA 02 Subaru WRX 17 122 3 Open Dennis Martin USA Kim Demotte USA 97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV 18 36 3 N Mark Cox USA Jim Gill USA 00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 19 53 3 G5 Don Jankowski USA Peter Gladysz USA 03 Dodge Neon SRT-4 20 42 3 G2 Eric Burmeister USA Ole Holter USA 88 VW Golf GTi 21 76 3 Open Gail Truess USA Pam McGarvey USA 88 Mazda 323 GTX 22 527 3 Open Christopher Gilligan USA Joe Petersen USA 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 23 544 5 Open Dan Malott USA Matt Malott USA 90 Eagle Talon TSi 24 565 3 N Russell Hodges USA Mike Rossey USA 95 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi 25 532 4 PGT David LaFavor USA Robert LaFavor USA 90 Eagle Talon TSi 26 93 3 G5 Robert Olson USA Conrad Ketelsen USA 93 Porsche 911 27 143 5 G2 Christopher Whiteman USA Michael Paulin USA 03 Dodge Neon SXT 28 916 3 GT Jonathan Bottoms USA Eric Dahlgren USA 99 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 29 60 5 GT Bruce Davis USA Lee Sorenson USA 92 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 30 546 5 G2 Phil Schmidt USA Steve Irwin USA 87 Toyota MR2 31 591 6 G2 Denis Cizmas USA Brady Sturm USA 87 VW Golf GTi 32 589 5 Open Michael Cienkosz USA Yurek Cienkosz USA 90 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 33 549 5 GT Thansasi Samaras USA TBA 94 Eagle Talon TSi 34 56 5 GT Roland McIvor USA Alan Perry USA 95 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 35 84 5 Open JB Niday USA Al Kintigh USA 97 Subaru Impreza

Complete start order available at www.sno-drift.org

The SCCA ProRally Championship is presented by Mitsubishi and Subaru, and is televised in North America on SpeedChannel. Time and date listing information available at www.speedtv.com

-scca pro rally-