Mitsubishi enters four Pajero Evolutions
Mitsubishi might just be the most succesful Dakar team in history with 12 wins from 25 Dakar Rally editions, of which 7 wins in the last 7 years!
This year's event will start in Porto, Portugal and finish in Dakar as usual covering 9,273 kilometers. Mitsubishi will be entering four Mitsubishi Pajero Evolutions (known as the Montero in some markets) and will be led by Hiroshi Masuoka who won the Dakar rally back-to-back in 2002 and 2003. Stéphane Peterhansel will be in the driver line-up too, he has won the Dakar Rally on nine occassions on both two wheels and four including last year's race. 2006 winner Luc Alphand and 2004 motorcycle winner Joan 'Nani' Roma complete the driver line-up.
Press Release
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and its motorsport unit Mitsubishi Motor Sport (MMSP) will enter a field of four cars for the 2008 Dakar Rally* which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary. Next year's event will start from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, on January 5 and will arrive in the Senegal capital, Dakar, on January 20 after passing via Spain, Morocco and Mauritania. The total route length is 9,273km, including 5,736km in competitive special stages and the toughest challenge promises to be the dunes that competitors will find in Mauritania.
The Mitsubishi squad is led by Hiroshi Masuoka (Japan) who won the event consecutively in 2002 and 2003. The Japanese veteran will be joined in the team's strong driver line-up by Stéphane Peterhansel (France), who has nine previous Dakar wins on two and four wheels to his name and winner of the 2007 rally, and Luc Alphand (France), who has obtained excellent results on the event since 2005, including an outright win in 2006. Joan 'Nani' Roma (Spain), winner of the motorbike category in 2004 and who is making excellent progress on four wheels, rounds off the team's talented foursome. The Pajero/Montero Evolution will feature ongoing improvements, as well as changes made mandatory by the latest regulations, and will make a key contribution to Mitsubishi's bid to secure its 13th Dakar win from 26 starts, and its eighth consecutive success.
* The 2008 event is officially known as the 'Euromilhoes Lisbon - Dakar 2008'. Euromilhoes, the title sponsor of the rally, is a lottery syndicate which has its headquarters in Portugal.
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart
| - Title sponsor | : | Repsol (Petroleum company with its headquarters in Spain) |
| - Car | : | Pajero/Montero Evolution (MPR13) |
| - Team Director | : | Dominique Sérieys |
| - Driver/Co-driver | : | Hiroshi Masuoka (Japan) / Pascal Maimon (France) Stéphane Peterhansel (France) / Jean-Paul Cottret (France) Luc Alphand (France) / Gilles Picard (France) Joan 'Nani' Roma (Spain) / Lucas Cruz Senra (Spain) |
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