Mitsubishi: Lancer showed good pace.

Mitsubishi principal rally engineer, Roger Estrada has said that while it was a shame Gigi Galli couldn't make it to the finish in Argentina on Sunday, both he and team leader, Harri Rovanpera, who finished fifth, did well to show the Lancer WRC05 has 'good pace'.

Speaking following the event, Estrada took comfort from the speed of the car, even if the reliability was some what lacking - at least with Galli's car, which had transmission problems on Friday and suffered again on Sunday, this time with gearbox issues.

"Overall we have showed good performance with both the car and crews," commented Estrada. "Harri drove very well and was, overall, fastest over Sunday three mountain stages; it was good to be fighting hard. It's a shame about Gigi's problems on Friday and Sunday, but in general we have had good pace."

Galli meanwhile while disappointed not to reach the finish, took comfort from the fact he did the majority of the event - thanks to the SupeRally format, which allowed him to re-start Saturday morning following his problems Friday in SS5. He will also again drive the second car in Finland next month, in preference to Gilles Panizzi.

"It's obviously a shame not to reach the finish," said Galli, "but the important thing is that we drove each of the different stages. Generally I have to be very happy because the stages we drove without problems we set good times, especially for only our second time here. The car is very much improved but the next step will come in Finland; then there will be more performance."