Mitsubishi Motors and Ralliart will enter Hiroshi Masuoka/Andreas Schulz and Stephane Peterhansel/Jean Paul Cottret in the 2002 Rally Orpi Morocco the fourth round of the 2002 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies. The Team Mitsubishi Ralliart crews will contest the Moroccan event in a pair of T2-specification Mitsubishi Pajeros/Monteros.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero S. Peterhansel (Photo: Optic 2000 Rally of Tunisia)

The Moroccan round of the FIA Cross Country series will cross the northern sections of the Sahara desert, encountering treacherous sand dunes and dried up riverbeds called "wadis". The various characteristics of the course will keep drivers on constant alert. Because the famed Paris-Dakar Rally has crossed sections of the Moroccan desert in recent years, sections of the stages will probably be quite similar. Considerable attention is being paid to this year's rally because of its similarities to the classic Dakar event.

The five-days of action starts on June 5th from the vast sand dunes outside the Moroccan town of Er Foud. This settlement is located on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains and is the gateway to the mighty Sahara desert. On June 9th, the surviving competitors will reach the finish at the ancient town of Marrakech, famous as one of the world's cultural treasures.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Hiroshi Masuoka (Photo: Arras-Madrid-Dakar 2002)

Hiroshi Masuoka, as many remember, achieved an emotional victory on the 2002 Dakar Rally. As part of the Japanese driver's aim to achieve a successive victory on the next Dakar, he will take this opportunity to develop and further test the Pajero/Montero for next January's event.

Stephane Peterhansel, who recently joined the Mitsubishi team, achieved his first victory in the four-wheel category on the Tunisia Rally, the second round of the Cross-Country series. At the peak of his form, Peterhansel continues to impress his fellow competitors. Expectations are high for the Frenchman to repeat his Tunisian triumph and press on towards a maiden FIA Drivers' Championship title.

Formidable rivals preparing for the event include Jean-Louis Schlesser (France - Schlesser Buggy), Thierry Magnaldi (Mercedes ML430) and Francois Guinot (Nissan Terrano), all experienced and top-rated Paris-Dakar veterans.

It already looks as if the event will become an exciting prelude to the 2003 Dakar Rally.