Mitsubishi Motors are using Anglo-Aussie girl power to spice up their challenge on the 2001 FIA World Rally Championship, courtesy of Natalie Barratt and Claire Parker.

Barratt, a 26-year-old rally driver from Wilmslow in Cheshire, and Parker, her 25-year-old globetrotting Australian navigator from Perth, who is based in Oxfordshire, are taking world rallying by storm in a state-of-the-art Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, built by Manfred Stohl - the reigning Group N World Rally champion.

With the support of Mitsubishi Motors, the duo are contesting the FIA Teams' Cup - a challenging six-round series held within the 14-round FIA World Rally Championship. They are the only all-female team to compete in the WRC.

Their next event - the Cyprus Rally (May 31-June 3) - will be Natalie and Claire's third rally together.

Their first ended dramatically when they rolled their Mitsubishi eight times down a mountainside on the Rally of Portugal. Slamming into a tree prevented the car from rolling to the bottom of the ravine, and the strength of the Lancer Evo VI allowed them to walk away from the shunt, shaken but otherwise unhurt. It took over 24 hours, a crane and the pulling power of a local fire engine to rescue the car.

After a confidence-boosting finish on the recent Catalunya Rally in Spain, Cyprus will be Barratt's first gravel rally since her Portuguese accident.