Mitsubishi Pajero / Andrew Cowan
(1983 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Patrick Zaniroli
(1985 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Hubert Auriol
(1992 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Bruno Saby
(1993 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Kenjiro Shinozuka
(1997 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero
Jean-Pierre Fontenay
(1998 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero
Jutta Kleinschmidt
(2001 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero
Hiroshi Masuoka
(2002 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero
Hiroshi Masuoka
(2003 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero
Stéphane Peterhansel
(2004 Dakar) |
Mitsubishi Motors first entered the Dakar Rally back in 1983, Andrew Cowan and Colin Malkin finishing 11th overall in their Pajero / Montero. The following year's Paris-Algiers-Dakar Rally, Cowan and co-driver Johnstone Syer finished third overall, with team-mates Rigal and Fourticq seventh.
The beginning of the Japanese manufacturer's heritage on the Dakar Rally, the world's greatest off-road event, had started. A trio of Pajeros / Monteros were entered for Cowan, Patrick Zaniroli and Hubert Rigal in the 1985 Dakar and Frenchman Zaniroli and co-driver Jean da Silva gave the team the first of its record-breaking nine victories. Cowan finished second.
Hubert Rigal finished third overall in the 1986 Dakar Rally, the highest-placed of the three entrants, although Cowan and Zaniroli took nine stage victories between them on the way to fifth and seventh places respectively in the final classification.
Japan's Kenjiro Shinozuka joined the Mitsubishi Motors line-up in 1987 and completed the podium places behind Ari Vatanen and Zaniroli, who had switched to the Range Rover team. Cowan finished eighth and the Dutch couple Tijsterman were 12th in a privately-run Pajero / Montero.
By now, The Dakar was gaining in reputation and strength and 311 cars entered the 1988 classic, with Mitsubishi fielding three Pajeros / Monteros for Cowan, Shinozuka and Frenchman Pierre Lartigue. Shinozuka improved on his best-ever finish with the runner-up position, and a little-known Frenchman named Jean-Pierre Fontenay was 12th in his Mitsubishi.
The 1989 Dakar headed through Tunisia and Mitsubishi Motors fielded its strongest-ever team, with Lartigue and Cowan joined by ex-Grand Prix driver Patrick Tambay and Jean da Silva. Tambay won his first Dakar stage between Dirkou and Termit and finished third overall. Tijsterman, Shinozuka, Fontenay and da Silva were classified as finishers in a top 10 leaderboard dominated by Mitsubishi Motors drivers.
Mitsubishi Motors expanded its official entry to five cars in 1990, when the event crossed through the Libyan deserts en route to Dakar. Lartigue, a returning Zaniroli and Shinozuka were joined by factory team newcomers Fontenay and ex-sportscar racer Jean-Louis Schlesser. Peugeot filled the podium, but Cowan and Shinozuka were fourth and fifth respectively and a young Japanese driver named Hiroshi Masuoka finished 10th in a privately-run Pajero / Montero.
Frenchman Phillipe Wambergue and Swede Kenneth Eriksson joined Lartigue, Shinozuka and Fontenay in 1991. Second-placed Lartigue was followed across the finish ramp by two of his team-mates, as Mitsubishis filled three of the top four places.
The organizer, TSO, changed the route for the 1992 Dakar and the event finished in Cape Town for the first and only time in its history. The event was also the most successful to that date for Mitsubishi Motors. Frenchman Hubert Auriol completed a team 1-2-3, with German team debutante Erwin Weber and Shinozuka also on the podium.
Five official cars were entered in 1993, with Frenchman Bruno Saby joining Shinozuka, Weber, Fontenay and Salvador Servia. Mitsubishi took its third outright victory, courtesy of Saby and co-driver Dominique Serieys, who now works as the team's Race Director at Pont de Vaux. Weber and Shinozuka were fourth and fifth.
A mere 96 cars began the 1994 event and seven of those were factory Mitsubishi entries for Shinozuka, Saby, Fontenay, Weber and Masuoka, the Japanese driver making his first official appearance with the Mitsubishi Motors/Sonauto team. The young Japanese was the highest-placed of the Mitsubishi finishers in fourth overall.
Seven cars were again entered in 1995. Frenchman Jean-Pierre Strugo and Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt replaced Weber and Dutchman Ten Harkel. The event started in Granada, Spain, and the Mitsubishis of Saby, Shinozuka and Fontenay finished second, third and fourth overall.
The Mitsubishi Motors entry was reduced to five cars for Saby, Masuoka, Shinozuka, Fontenay and Tambay in 1996. Again the event began in Granada and Fontenay finished third overall with Masuoka and Saby sixth and seventh.
The 1997 event started and finished in Dakar. Mitsubishi drivers dominated the event from the outset, winning for the fourth time and filling the top four places in the overall classification. Shinozuka took his first win and was followed over the podium by Fontenay, Saby and Masuoka.
The event returned to a traditional Paris start the following year and attracted a 173-car entry. Saby, Shinozuka, Fontenay and Masuoka were joined by former French skier Luc Alphand. Fontenay clinched the team's fifth outright victory, and team-mates Shinozuka, Saby and Masuoka filled the top four positions. To round off a successful season, the team also won the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies for the first time.
Nissan and the Schlesser team were the major rivals in 1999 and Shinozuka, Fontenay, Miguel Prieto, Kleinschmidt, Alphand, Masuoka, Strugo and Carlos Sousa formed the biggest Mitsubishi Motors team thus far. The team's drivers won 11 of the 17 special stages and Prieto finished in second position, ahead of team-mates Kleinschmidt and Shinozuka. Mitsubishi Motors also won its second FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title.
For the Millennium running of The Dakar, the TSO arranged a difficult route from Dakar to Cairo. Shinozuka, Fontenay, Kleinschmidt and Prieto were joined by Brazilian Klever Kolberg. Team members won the majority of the stages, but a serious dune accident in Libya sidelined both Shinozuka and Portugal's Carlos Sousa. Fontenay finished third overall and the team also notched up a hat-trick of FIA World Cup titles.
Fontenay, Shinozuka, Kleinschmidt, Masuoka, Sousa and Prieto tackled the 2001 event for the Mitsubishi Motors team, the rally renowned for its battle between the Mitsubishi, Nissan and Schlesser teams. Kleinschmidt became the first woman ever to win the Dakar, after team-mate Masuoka lost time in Senegal and slipped to second place. Sousa and Fontenay were fifth and sixth. At the finish, Mitsubishi claimed its sixth outright win in this famous event.
The 2002 event began at Arras in Northern France and Mitsubishi Motors entered Pajeros / Monteros for Fontenay, Shinozuka, Kleinschmidt, Masuoka, Sousa and Alphand. Mitsubishi won nine of the 15 stages and took a second consecutive victory, courtesy of Masuoka's maiden success. The Japanese marque recorded an outstanding achievement with Pajeros / Monteros filling nine of the top 10 places. Kleinschmidt and Shinozuka were second and third respectively.
The 2003 event began in Marseilles and finished in Egypt at Sharm El Sheikh. Mitsubishi Motors had given the new Pajero / Montero Evolution a winning debut in the 2002 UAE Desert Challenge and fielded a pair of Evolutions for Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel and Hiroshi Masuoka as well as two traditional Pajeros / Monteros for Fontenay and the Italian "Miki" Biasion.
Peterhansel charged into what appeared to be an unassailable lead, only to hit trouble on the penultimate stage in Egypt and hand a second successive win to Masuoka and an eighth overall and third successive win for the team. Fontenay and Peterhansel eventually filled the podium places.
The Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution was further developed and the newly-formed Mitsubishi Motors Cross Country Rally Team went on to win the UAE Desert Challenge for a second successive year in October. Mitsubishi Portugal and Carlos Sousa clinched the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title, giving the Japanese marque four FIA World Cup titles in seven years.
Peterhansel made up for the previous year's disappointment by clinching a comfortable maiden victory, his first in a car, in the 2004 Dakar Rally to give the new four-litre V6 Pajero / Montero Evolution a second successive win and Mitsubishi's ninth in total. He also became only the second driver, after Hubert Auriol, to win the event on both two and four wheels.
Team-mate Masuoka finished second overall and Germany's Andrea Mayer completed her support role with co-driver Andreas Schulz in fifth position in a Pajero / Montero. Italian team-mates "Miki" Biasion and Tiziano Siviero retired after an accident in Morocco. The event began in Clermont-Ferrand for the first time and finished at Lac Rose, near Dakar.
In a bid to take a record-breaking 10th Dakar victory, the Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios Team will enter five cars in the 2005 Telef?nica Dakar Rally, which starts in Barcelona for the first time and finishes in Dakar on January 16th, 2005. Peterhansel and Masuoka will be joined by Spaniard Joan Roma and Frenchman Luc Alphand in a quartet of further revised Pajero / Montero Evolutions, while Mayer will be driving a Mitsubishi L200 Pick-Up.
Team mate Masuoka finished second overall and Germany's Andrea Mayer completed her support role with co-driver Andreas Schulz in fifth position in a Pajero/Montero. Italian team mates Mike Biasion and Tiziano Siviero retired after an accident in Morocco. The event began in Clermont-Ferrand for the first time and finished at Lac Rose, near Dakar.
In a bid to take a record-breaking 10th Dakar victory, the Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios Team entered five cars in the 2005 Telef?nica Dakar Rally, which started in Barcelona for the first time and finished in Dakar. Peterhansel and Masuoka were joined by Spaniard Joan 'Nani' Roma and Frenchman Luc Alphand in a quartet of further revised Pajero / Montero Evolutions, while Mayer drove a Mitsubishi L200 Pick-Up.
Peterhansel and Alphand hit the front once the event headed into Mauritania and between them clinched five fastest stage times on their way to a convincing 1-2 win for the Mitsubishi team. The success marked Mitsubishi's fifth successive Dakar triumph and a second win for Peterhansel in a Mitsubishi. Alphand took a personal best second overall, and Dakar debutant Roma was sixth.
Mitsubishi entered the opening three rounds of this year's FIA World Cup to gain further experience and begin a development program with components for a new version of the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution. Peterhansel and Roma were second and fourth overall in the Patagonia-Atacama Rally and Alphand finished first overall in Tunisia.
A last stage accident cost Peterhansel a potential victory in the Rally of Morocco and Roma clinched his first outright win with the team in the Baja Espa?a Aragon. The entire team also carried out two intensive endurance tests in Morocco during the summer, prior to sending two cars to both the Baja Anta de Serra in Portalegre, Portugal, in October and the UAE Desert Challenge. Alphand took his second win of the year by clinching a dramatic win in the Portuguese Baja.
The same team of four drivers will head to Lisbon for start of the 2006 Dakar Rally, equipped with the latest version of the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution. They will be bidding for a sixth successive victory for Mitsubishi on the African classic.
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