RALLY: ProRally: Rim of the World: Start order and breaking news

Start Order & Late Breaking News:
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship Round 4 - Rim of the World

PALMDALE, California A record starting lineup of 79 performance rally cars from North America and the world are slated to begin the two-day Rim of the World Rally at 7:00PM Friday evening, following a 30-minute parade of all the rally cars at the host hotel. The rally cars return to Palmdale after midnight, and restart the second day of rallying at noon on Saturday, following a morning of rally festivities including a charity RallySprint and Parc Expose of all the cars entered.

Selected Entries, News

* All three works teams had a rough time at Oregon Trail two weeks ago, and have been working hard to get the bugs out of their systems during this short break - and Hyundai is most confident that their new car teething problems are behind them now. "The transmission problems we had at Oregon don't seem to be nearly as serious as we originally suspected," commented team boss John Buffum at the manufacturer's media reception earlier today in Long Beach; "but we are going to keep an eye on Rod." The Rod he is referring to is Rod Millen, who will be taking over Rhys Millen's Evo VI - said Buffum: "He will be fast hereno question."

* Paul Choiniere, who has had a very challenging start to the season, with three mechanical DNF's in three starts, finally got a bit of luck in the traditional start order draw for top seed drivers - and will be first on the road tomorrow. With the cars in perfect condition, this may be the break the 8-time champion has been needing to get his championship chances jumpstarted.

* Subaru/Prodrive, now sitting in 3rd place in manufacturers points, needs a great weekend as well - and is poised to get it. Struggling with transmission problems of their own, the team has been furiously testing over the last several days, and hopes their troubles have been banished from this important weekend. Many eyes will be on them too - as this weekend celebrates the first anniversary of the groundbreaking WRX going on sale here in the USA. With huge owner appreciation festivities planned in conjunction with the rally, including WRC driver Petter Solberg being flown in for the occasion from the UK, this is a crucial weekend for Subaru to do well.

* Keeping the works teams on their toes will be three top teams from 2001 making their season debuts: Richard Tuthill and John Bennie return in their Winning Makes prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evo/Mirage combination car, and series veteran Lon Peterson, with John Elkin bring back their surprisingly quick Knight Racing automatic transmissioned Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS turbo. 2001 Group N champion and former Prodrive pilot Karl Scheible makes his debut in an all-new 2002 WRX.

* "Stage Notes," which made their USA debut two weeks ago at Oregon Trail have gained a stronger following for Rim, with better than 2/3rds of the field opting for the books - said one entrant "I really feel blind not using them now." The notes give co-drivers a highly detailed set of route instructions to interpret for the driver, earned high praise from skeptics and fans alike two weeks ago.

* Weather forecast: the conditions this weekend are exceedingly dry - no rain is in the forecast, nor has there been in sometime, so high levels of dus t are going to be the norm, not the exception. This plays well for Paul Choiniere, who will benefit as first car on the road. Typical of this time of the year in Palmdale, daytime temps will be a perfect for rally mid to upper 60's, with near freezing temperatures in the upper elevations at night.

<pre> Information regarding the start order list:

Car # = number on vehicle. Cars with numbers under 200 are Pro entries. Car numbered over 200 are generally ClubRally (regional) entrants, with first digit denoting their home division (2,3 = West coast, 5 = Central US, 8,9 East coast).

Group = Vehicle category: Open, Gr N - fastest; are cars with considerable modifications P (Production) - slowest; are cars very near showroom stock configuration G5 - two wheel drive high HP cars G2 - two wheel drive lower horsepower cars GT - high horsepower production (stock) cars.

Entry = event entered. Nat= SCCA ProRally, Club=SCCA ClubRally

Rim of the World - SCCA ProRally Championship Round 4 -- 3-4 May, 2002 Top 25 Start Order (subject to revision - complete list available at www.rimoftheworldrally.com )

Start   Car#    Seed Class   Driver Name / Co-Driver            Car
1       6       0    Open    Paul Choiniere / Jeff Becker       03 Hyundai Tiburon
2       1       0    Open    Mark Lovell / Steve Turvey         02 Subaru WRX
3       5       0    Open    Mark Higgins / Michael Gibson      03 Hyundai Tiburon
4       16      FIA  Open    David Higgins / Daniel Barritt     02 Subaru WRX
5       61      0    Open    Karl Scheible / Wayne Scheible     02 Subaru WRX
6       4       0    Open    Rod Millen / Cal Coatsworth        00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
7       13      0    Open    Richard Tuthill / John Bennie      00 Mitsubishi Mirage
8       3       1    Open    Rhys Millen / Garry Cowan          01 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.5
9       2       1    Open    Ramana Lagemann / Michael Kidd     02 Subaru WRX
10      107     1    Open    Tim Paterson / John Allen          97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
11      110     1    Open    Mark Nelson / Charles Bradley      00 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6
12      32      1    Open    Paul Eklund / Scott Huhn           02 Subaru WRX
13      34      1    Open    Peter Lahm / Tony Lumino           97 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
14      22      1    Open    Ralph Kosmides / James Brandt      99 Subaru Impreza WRX-STi
15      52      1    G5      Doug Shepherd / Peter Gladysz      02 Dodge Neon SRT-4
16      37      2    Open    Tony Chavez / Eddie Cardenas       91 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
17      48      2    Open    Lon Peterson / John Elkin          00 Subaru Impreza
18      275     2    Open    Nat T-Stow / Ben Bradley           02 Subaru WRX
19      51      2    G5      Jay Streets / Janice Damitio       83 Volvo 740 turbo
20      28      2    G2      Bill Malik / Christian Edstrom     93 Volvo 240
21      374     3    Open    Leon Styles / John Dillon          91 Audi quattro S2
22      397     3    Open    Rui Brazil / TBA                   91 Audi quattro S2
23      891     3    Open    Randy Zimmer / Russell Strate      96 Subaru Impreza
24      88      3    Open    Doug Havir / Scott Putnam          02 Subaru WRX
25      124     3    N       Peter Workum / Alex Gelsomino      00 Subaru Impreza

Web sites: * SCCA ProRally: www.sccaprorally.org * SCCA Rim of the World Rally: www.rimoftheworldrally.com

The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of America, Inc. ProRally, ClubRally and RallyCross are service marks of the SCCA.

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

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