winning form, Frenchman Patrick Zaniroli secured the lead after the rest day and never looked back. It was the first win for the Japanese automaker. Andrew Cowan worked his Mitsubishi up into second place and the team crossed the line in first and second places ahead of a number of factory-entered teams. A scant few years was all it took to develop the Pajero into a race winning vehicle. Some of the notable milestones in Dakar history were attributed to Mitsubishi’s efforts, in fact the competi‑ tor with the most wins ever – Stephane Peterhansel, climbed onto the top step of the podium in a Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution in 2004. It was his first Dakar- win on 4 wheels. The Frenchman went on to win a record total of 14 times both on motorcycles and in cars.
Mitsubishi played a key role in a number of other com‑ petitor’s careers. The first competitor to win the Dakar on motorcycles and then in a car was Hubert Auriol who collected his first win on two wheels in 1981 then in a Mitsubishi in 1992 which signaled the start of Mitsubishi’s dominance of the Dakar Rally for the next 12 years. German Jutta Kleinschimdt became the first female to win the Dakar in 2001 that was the last ‘classique’, it started in Paris and wound up in Dakar. At the wheel of her Mitsubishi Pajero she drove a sol‑ id race finally being awarded the win under a cloud of controversy involving a few other competitors. As Mitsubishi’s involvement expanded, the mighty Pajeros became the car of choice among the many privateer racers. At one point there were over 60
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