| Kenjiro Shinozuka drove his PIAA Corporation sponsored "Team PIAA Ralliart"
Mitsubishi Pajero to victory in the second round of the 1999 FIA World
Cup for Cross Country Rallies Series, the Italian Baja. The rally, which
took place over three days from March 19th to 21st on a course laid out
near the town of Pordenone on the outskirts of the north eastern
Italian coastal city of Venice, saw Shinozuka overcome a strong field of
rivals to take a great victory in his new improved PIAA Pajero/Montero, again
proving the strength of the Pajero/Montero in this global series.
Prologue Run /19th of March
The event started on the 19th of March with a prologue run in the town
of Bibione, which is south of Pordenone on the Adriatic Sea
coastline. Run over a specially prepared one and a half kilometer course
carved out of the sand dunes near the town, the prologue is held to
determine the starting positions of the 'real' start on the following
day. Each competitor is timed over two laps of the prologue course, and
although the speed over this short course does not accurately reflect
the order the field will finish in after the three days of competition,
it is still an indication of the competitors' machines' potential and
state of preparedness, so the teams take it very seriously as a guide to
their overall competitiveness in relation to the rest of the field. The
top time on this day was lodged by the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero of well-known
German lady driver, Jutta Kleinschmidt, this result reviving talk of her
magnificent drive in the recent Dakar Rally. This is the first time
since the World Cup for Cross Country Rallies Series started in 1993
that a female driver has ever won the prologue of an event. Eventual
winner, Shinozuka, posted the third fastest time, with his great rival
Jean-Louis Schlesser in second position.
LEG 1/20th of March
The next two days' competitive stages were held over a course laid out
on land usually used by the military near Pordenone. One lap of the
course was approximately 137 km and the competitors would cover five
circuits of the track, three times on the 20th (411 km) and twice more
on the 21st (274 km), and the total time over the five laps would
determine the winner. Last year was Shinozuka's first attempt at the
event, and even though he was only learning the course last year he was
in full attack mode in a daring effort to take a debut win, eventually
ending up in second place. This year's course wasn't exactly the same as
last year's, but there were enough similarities to make the data
collected during the '98 event useful and Kenjiro was aiming to make
good use of this in his campaign to win this year's event.
The course was made up of a variety of desolate terrain on roads that
traversed river flats and tracks strewn with pebbles and sharply pointed
rocks and it was said that it was the kind-to-the-vehicle pace that
Shinozuka maintained on the event that proved the most effective in the
harsh conditions. Indeed, the results of the first day's competition
soon proved how efficient his approach was.
At the end of the first lap he had a 32 second advantage over the second
placed Kleinschmidt, the second lap saw her overtaken for second place
by J-M Servia in a Schlesser Buggy, but by this time Shinozuka had not
only extended his lead to one minute over the rest of the field, but was
also continuing to draw steadily away as the race progressed. By the
time the third lap was underway the course surface had been so badly
chopped up by the competing vehicles' wheels that the entire field was
slowed in the worsened conditions.
Shinozuka had taken advantage over the first two laps and finished the
first day in the lead, and in a good position to start the battle on the
final day.
LEG 2/21st of March
The last day's double circuit saw him maintain the lead established on
the second day, the only problem during the whole run being a hard
landing off a jump that hurt his back and this proved a minor hindrance
to his progress after that. In the end, he held on gamely and took a
well-deserved outright victory in the PIAA Pajero/Montero.
Strangely, it was the first time he had won since the 1997 Dakar, mainly
because bad luck had caused numerous victories to slip from his grasp at
the last minute, and this win is actually the first one he has ever
posted in the World Cup for Cross Country Rallies Series, so it had
extra special meaning for him.
Second and third were the Schlesser Buggies of J-L Schlesser and J-M
Servia respectively, with Kleinschmidt in fourth place after being
stricken with puncture problems on the last day of the event. The
Buggies' long suspension stroke meant that they were regarded as having
an advantage on this particular event, but Shinozuka, who is competing
in the series for the second year running, put his experience to good
use and overcame them with a spirited drive.
This means that Shinozuka is now in second place in the Driver's points
and now in a position to put pressure on Schlesser, who is at present in
the lead of the Driver's Championship points rankings.
Moreover, this victory means that Mitsubishi have extended their lead in
the Manufacturers' points race and are in a good position to try to
repeat as Manufacturers' Champion this year.
The next event is the Tunisia Rally, which is from April 10th to 18th
and this event sees the Series return to a sand dune and desert course
for the first time since the Dakar Rally in January.
Comments
Kenjiro Shinozuka
"I won at last!! I've lost a lot that I thought I would win, and every
time it was a little mistake or a bit of bad luck that made the
difference between winning and losing. This event I didn't have one
puncture, so maybe you could say my luck has changed. Near the end of
the first lap on the last day I hurt my back on hard landing after a
jump and I had completed about one third of the final lap when the
others started to attack, so the last part of the last lap was tough.
Anyway, I've managed to improve on the second place I got last year, and
this win has given me the opportunity I need, so I'll be giving it my
best shot for the rest of the series, too."
Ulrich Brehmer, Team Director
"This victory is due to Kenjiro being in a position where he could
clearly show his considerable strength in this type of event.
Even after he hurt his back on the fourth lap, he drove coolly through
the fifth lap and I think that a less experienced driver would have
self-destructed under the pressure. From the bottom of my heart, my
congratulations to him. The Pajero/Montero is a good vehicle to drive, but on a
deeply rutted course like this one the Buggies had the advantage, I
think. The reason that we could beat them here was the wonderful
combination of Pajero/Montero and Shinozuka."
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DRIVER PROFILE
Copyright 1999 by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.