The Starion had been a successful circuit race car in the 1980's but had no European rallying pedigree. When this car was a surprise entry for Pentti Airikkala in the 1988 Cartel International and proceeded to win by over 8 minutes, it sent shock waves through the rallying establishment and made headline news in all the motoring press. He followed this up with a convincing win on the Welsh International and took top 5 places in all but one of the other championship rounds. Airikkala finished second in the championship by 3 points to Jimmy McRae and the Ford Sierra Cosworth. The 1988 championship was covered extensively by BBC Grandstand and the Starion provided truly spectacular TV footage with lengthy in car coverage. This particular Starion was recently featured in a retrospective in Motorsport magazine (April 2003) and is generally perceived as the car that started the Japanese rally car revolution of the Group A era. Pentti indeed won the RAC Rally the following year in a Mitsubishi Galant VR4. Under the bonnet, max Power output has been increased to 250 bhp @ 5,800rpm and with 352bhp at 6000rpm. The oily bits are spun and cooled by a water-cooled Turbocharger and air-air intercooler.
