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MONTHLY NEWS March 1997 Shinozuka Wins Dakar Rally |
Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka won the nineteenth Dakar Rally when he and his co-driver Henri Magne crossed the finish line in first place on January 19. The race began in Dakar, Senegal, took drivers through sub-Saharan Niger, Mali, and Mauritania, and finished back in the West African state's capital.
The Dakar Rally is considered the world's toughest and most prestigious endurance race. Competitors drove cars and motorcycles 8,518 kilometers across dusty western and central Africa under the glaring sun. The temperature inside Shinozuka's car often exceeded 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit). Shinozuka's car, a Mitsubishi Pajero, finished the 16-day race with a time of 61 hours, 56 minutes, and 31 seconds, 4 minutes 16 seconds ahead of a French pair of Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Bruno Musmarra, who also drove a Pajero. |
Shinozuka's victory is the first by a Japanese driver in the car category in the 19-year history of the race, formerly called the Paris-Dakar Rally. This year's race took place entirely on the African continent for the first time.
The 48-year-old driver entered his first Paris-Dakar in 1986, and the latest race was his twelfth. "I'm more relieved than anything else that I finally won," he said at a news conference following his return to Japan. "When I finished third in 1995, hardly anybody noticed," he told the more than 200 reporters who packed the news conference room. Shinozuka finished in third place in 1987, second in 1988, and third again in 1992 and 1995. "People will think it's a fluke if I win just once," Shinozuka commented. "So I'll try to repeat my performance next year."
Photos: The victorious team (top) and their winning vehicle (above). (Mitsubishi Motors Corporation) 
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