Only five units of this rare model were produced
On 24 February 2024, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS Tommi Makinen Edition Monte Carlo Edition was offered at an auction organized by Iconic Auctioneers at Silverstone Circuit in England. The car is a limited edition ‘Monte Carlo Edition’ based on the Tommi Makinen Edition and created by Rally Art UK. The reason for the surprisingly high bid price?
The Lancer Evolution was active in rallying in the 1990s
Rally competitions are held all over the world, starting with the famous Rallye Monte Carlo, the first of which was held in 1911. In its long history, a variety of famous cars have competed in great rallies, but the World Rally Championship (WRC) of the late 1990s is still fresh in the minds of Japanese fans. In this era, domestic car manufacturers such as Subaru, Toyota, and Nissan emerged to replace the Italian Lancia, which had been the champion until then, and a fierce battle of wits ensued.
Mitsubishi, which had been actively participating in international rallies since the days of the first-generation Lancer in the 1970s, released the Lancer Evolution in 1992 to replace the Galant VR-4. As the name suggests, the Lancer Evolution featured a more compact body than the Galant, and was equipped with a 250 hp/6000 rpm engine, the most powerful in its class, and full-time 4WD. The Lancer Evo was launched in the WRC in the 1993 season, the year after the production model’s debut, and evolved and matured with each round, eventually becoming the world’s most powerful rally car.
A highlight of the “Lancer Evo’s glorious history” in the WRC is the “first ever four consecutive driver championships in the World Rally Championship” achieved by ace driver Tommi Makinen between 1996 and 1999.
In this era, the manufacturer’s championship was awarded to the strongest rivals such as Subaru, Toyota, and Ford in some years, but when it came to the driver of the year, the speed of Tommi Makinen in his Lancer Evo VI was overwhelming. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Makinen Edition was a limited edition model released at the end of 1999 to celebrate the achievements of the Lancer Evo VI and Tommi Makinen. This model was available in two grades, the GSR, suitable for road use, and the spartan RS, with its comfort equipment trimmed back, and was sold nationwide by Galant dealers from January 2000.
The fifth model built was a one-owner car
Iconic Auctioneers, a UK auction house specializing in motoring items, including classic cars, old and new racing machines, and rally cars. This particular example, which was on display at the auction house’s Silverstone circuit on 24 February 2024, was a unique local limited edition model created by Rally Art UK to commemorate Tommi Makinen’s unprecedented third victory in the Monte Carlo Rally.
Based on the RS, the base grade of the Lancer Evo VI competition car, the RALLIART Technical Team, led by Tony Cox, has thoroughly upgraded this model from the engine to the suspension. It was sold on a limited basis as the “Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS Tommi Makinen Edition Monte Carlo Edition”, a RALLIART UK exclusive.
It is said that a ‘production’ run of 12 cars was originally planned, but only five were built. This 1991 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS Tomi Makinen Edition Monte Carlo Edition, the fifth and final of those five, is a one-owner car with only 3497 miles (5628 km) on the odometer. This rare Evo VI, which could almost be described as a new car, was sold at this auction for £99,000 (approx. 125,000 USD) and married to its second owner.
In the world of automobiles, manufacturers are always engaged in friendly competition with each other, from motorsports to sales figures of production cars. The top runners in each genre change rapidly, but the manufacturer, car or driver who achieves a great “thing” in a certain era will have their name etched in automobile history forever. Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evolution and Tommi Makinen are two rare examples of this.
translated by DeepL