From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
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