MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- Four-time North American and six-time Canadian rally champion Frank Sprongl and co-driver Dan Sprongl have entered the Susquehannock Trails Pro Rally (STPR) June 1-3 to evaluate a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV rally car and test the level of competition in the U.S., the team has announced.

The brothers will pilot the upgraded Evo IV in their first return to the SCCA series since the Maine Forest summer rally in July, 2000. The car, which belongs to a customers of the Sprongls' Four Star Motorsports, will compete in the Open Class.

"We're going to test the car and the competition," explains driver Frank Sprongl. "With technology changing so quickly, we're evaluating what we want in a car for the future and what's out there. And because the bar has been raised significantly in the series this year, we need to see where the competitors are, too."

The Sprongls have two second-place finishes in two events in the 2001 Canadian Rally Championship, but have been sidelined for much of the year. Both events were contested in aging Audis.

"STPR makes a great test because it is something of a benchmark for us," says Dan Sprongl. "The Evo IV isn't the latest technology, but it's radically different to drive from what we're used to. We have won this event in the past and we know what it takes to go quickly there. In many ways, it's the ideal rally to evaluate new hardware." The brothers won STPR in 1998 and crashed while leading the rally in 1999.

The event is also an ideal test for the new Yokohama rally tires the team is running, Frank maintains. Depending on the weather, the team will test a new mud tire and new compounds on the tight, technical stages of the most popular rally in the U.S. schedule.

The Four Star Motorsports entry is supported by Yokohama, Sameday Right-o-way Courier, Bosch, Peltor and PRO Racing Fuels.