Overview
The first-generation Mitsubishi Colt Lancer/Lancer 1600 GSR was a compact Japanese rear-wheel-drive sedan using the 4G32 single-overhead-camshaft four-cylinder. It entered the 1970s international rally scene as an endurance-focused successor to Mitsubishi's prior Colt and Galant efforts, with underbody protection, tough suspension and a deliberately practical front-engine mechanical layout. Mitsubishi's model name 'GSR' predates the much later turbocharged, all-wheel-drive Lancer Evolution lineage.
Mitsubishi's primary WRC history lists the Lancer GSR with a 1,598 cc 4G32 SOHC engine, 148 PS maximum works output, 16.5 kg-m torque, 3,965 mm length and 1,525 mm width. These are company works reference figures, not universal showroom specifications. The company explains how the 1974 oil crisis cancelled its intended full factory Safari attack, but Kenya-based privateer Joginder Singh bought a Lancer with his own money and received Mitsubishi spare-parts support.
Joginder Singh and navigator David Doig won the 1974 Safari Rally, Mitsubishi's first WRC round victory, in a Group 2 Colt Lancer. Singh/Doig returned to win the 1976 Safari, leading a remarkable Lancer 1–2–3, with Robin Ulyate second and Andrew Cowan third. Mitsubishi records Southern Cross wins in 1974, 1975 and 1976; the detailed year-by-year company narrative credits the 1973 Southern Cross win to the Galant, contrary to a condensed corporate table attributing 1973–76 all to the Lancer. The 1977 Bandama win by Andrew Cowan and Mitsubishi team-mate second place were not WRC round results, despite happening after the WRC was created.