Dakar 1997

DAKAR-AGADEZ-DAKAR 1997

Dakar organizer Hubert Auriol, who successfully mounted the 1996 Granada-Dakar Rally, took a completely different approach to the 1997 event. The decision was made to alter the current regulations and ban the T3 prototype classall to gether from this year's event. The previous years have seen the performance of these powerful machines, sometimes called the "F1's of the desert" dominate the event. Auriol's intention was to give competitors, both professional and amateur an equal chance at winning the Dakar.

Mitsubishi entered the event with three Pajeros and debuted its new Challenger/Montro Sport, all in the T2 category (improved production cars). This year 100 vehicles, 127 motorcycles and 55 trucks made their start from Dakar. The 16 day-event took the competitors through the scorching heat of four African countries; Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. For the first time in its 19 year history the 1997 event took place entirely in Africa, the 1997 Dakar-Agades-Dakar Rally made its start from Dakar in Senegal and made its way east to Agades in Niger and returned to Dakar, an exhausting 8,000 km rally through some of the roughest terrain the Africa continent could offer.

The Mitsubishi team took the lead from the start and once they reached the halfway point in Agades in Niger, after more than 3500km competitive driving, only a handful of seconds split the leading three Pajeros. The going was tough for Mitsubishi with not only rivals Jean-Louis Schlesser and Juha Kleinschmidt's SEAT-powered buggies close behind but pressure from Nissan, Toyota and Korea's Sangyong also threatening to take over the lead. By the time they reached Nema in Mauritania, scene of the toughest stages of the event, Team Manager Ullrich Brehmer was forced to make the decision to declare that the leading Pajeros at that point was to be unchallenged to the finish.

On Sunday, January 19th, 1997, after 15 days and more than 8,000 km of the world's most gruelling motor sport event, Kenjiro Shinozuka blasted along the sandy beach near the Senegalese capital of Dakar and around the famous Pink Lake to yet make another mark in the history books by becoming the first Japanese driver ever to win the famous Dakar Rally, driving his Team Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart Pajero. In the searing heat of Senegal, many thousands of spectators gathered to cheer the Japanese hero onto the podium alongside his French co-driver Henri Magne. It was a memorable occasion for Mitsubishi whose cars filled the top four postions overall, and won almost all major classes and categories of the event. The result was certainly worthy

FINAL CLASSIFICATION

1997 Dakar-Agades-Dakar Rally

Pos.	Car No.	Driver	Manufacture	Total Time
1.	205	SHINOZUKA	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	61:58:31
2.	200	FONTENAY	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	+00:04:16
3.	202	SABY	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	+00:09:12
4.	220	MASUOKA	MITSUBISHI CHALLENGER/MONTERO SPORT	+02:25:27
5.	206	KLEINSCHMIDT	SCHLESSER ORIG	+04:35:51
6.	204	SERVIA	NISSAN	+05:15:14
7.	216	STRUGO	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	+06:20:08
8.	208	GUEDES	NISSAN	+09:23:13
9.	268	ARGAZZI	NISSAN	+09:40:41
10.	224	SOUZA	MITSUBISHI PAJERO	+10:14:58

N° 161	Pilote	Andrew Cowan	GB	Classée 11 au général	Classée 1 en Marathon
	Co-Pilote	Colin Malkin	GB
N° 162	Pilote	Georges Debussy	FR	Classée 14 au général	Classée 2 en Marathon
	Co-Pilote	Jacques Delaval	FR
N° 217	Pilote	Tony Fowke	GB	Abandon	Abandon
	Co-Pilote	Pierre Saint-Jean	FR
N° 218	Pilote	Bernard Maingret	FR	Classée 30 au général	Classée 5 en Marathon
	Co-Pilote	Louis Blin	FR