Kenjiro Shinozuka
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Kenjiro Shinozuka | |
---|---|
World Rally Championship record | |
Nationality | Japanese |
Active years | 1976–97 |
Teams | Mitsubishi Motors |
World rallies | 20 |
Championships | |
Wins | 2 |
Podium finishes | 3 |
Stage wins | 3 |
Points | 88 |
First world rally | 1976 Safari Rally |
First win | 1991 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire |
Last win | 1992 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire |
Last world rally | 1997 Rally Australia |
Kenjiro Shinozuka (篠塚 建次郎) (born Ota, Tokyo, November 20, 1948) is a Japanese rally driver. Since his debut in 1967, his greatest successes have been as a works driver for Mitsubishi Motors. Behind the wheel of a Galant VR-4 he won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1988 and scored consecutive victories in the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama in 1991 and 1992, when it was a round of the World Rally Championship, making him the first Japanese competitor to win a WRC event.[1] He is also of note for his success in the Dakar Rally, where he became the first Japanese winner of the world's most famous endurance rally in 1997 driving a Mitsubishi Pajero.[2]
Shinozuka resigned from Mitsubishi in 2002,[3] but continued to compete. He drove a Nissan pickup in the 2003 Dakar, but after hitting a sand dune he rolled his vehicle several times, enduring severe facial injuries and being placed in a coma. His co-driver Thierry Delli-Zotti suffered fractures to both his legs, although unlike Shinuzoka his injuries were not life-threatening.[4]
Shinuzoka announced before the 2006 event that it would be his final appearance as a competitor, saying "[m]y decision has been taken: it’s my last Dakar. But I still hope to enjoy myself one last time behind the steering wheel. To win? No, that’s not my goal. After that, I don’t yet know what I’ll do but I do know that we need new talents in Japan. Just look at our drivers, they're all sixty or over, like Asaga san or Sugawara san… So I might help out in finding new promising competitors for the future."[5] However despite this, he returned for the 2007 Dakar, again driving a Nissan, and finished in 59th place out of the 109 cars that finished the race.
[edit] WRC Victories
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# Event Season Co-driver Car 1 23ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama 1991 John Meadows Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 2 24ème Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama 1992 John Meadows Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
[edit] External links
- (Japanese) Shinoken.net, official website
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ History of Galant VR-4, Mitsubishi Motors website
- ^ 1997 Dakar-Agades-Dakar, Mitsubishi Motors website
- ^ "Mitsubishi Motors' Kenjiro Shinozuka resigns", Ralliart.com press release, June 13, 2002
- ^ "Rally driver escapes with his life", Taipei Times, January 11, 2003
- ^ "Kenjiro Shinozuka: "It’s my last Dakar!", Dakar.com official website