Mitsubishis entered in a single edition of the rally often winning the Production and modified Production classes. Another milestone in the Dakar history books was in 1997 when Pajeros occupied the top four finish‑ er spots in the overall standings. The following year Mitsubishi once again swept the top 4 places with the French pairing of Jean Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard leading the Pajero sweep. The 2002 Dakar rally was one of the most memorable for the Mitsubishi team, over that year’s 9,257 kilo‑ metres between Arras in Northern France and Dakar the top nine places in other overall standings were oc‑ cupied by the Pajero.
Such unprecedented dominance had never been seen and perhaps never will, with a record-setting 7 consecutive victories and 12 overall wins Mitsubishi proudly closed the curtain on its Dakar efforts. Constant technological development kept the Pajeros running up front and always one step ahead of its competition that development still plays an import‑ ant role in the Mitsubishi cars driven today. Between 1985 and 2007 Mitsubishi secured the much-coveted spot in the Guinness World book of records with its 12 wins. The number of victories in individual classes for either production cars or modi‑ fied production cars is almost countless, needless to say the Mitsubishi trophy room is well stocked.
79
Powered by FlippingBook