MITSUBISHI MPR10 | MPR102 for sale
Winner of 2003 Dakar Rally and Italian Baja
A rare opportunity to get a winning car, one of the few Mitsubishi MPR10s in existence, in excellent condition and 100% working.
More about the car:
Designated with the internal number MPR102, this Mitsubishi has a fine resume with two important victories in the history of the Rally Raid.
Its life began as one of the test cars for the pre-Dakar Rally preparation with all the brand's official drivers for the 2003 season: Peterhansel, Fontenay, Masuoka and Miki Biasion.
The Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution also called MPR10 was developed primarily for the 2003 Dakar Rally. Built on a rigid and very light tubular structure in which aerodynamics played an important role by raising the minimum ground clearance while reducing the overall height of the car. It was powered by a 3.5-litre 6G74 MIVEC engine delivering 280 hp. In addition, for the first time Mitsubishi adopted a 6-speed sequential gearbox in its rally car.
The car made its competitive debut as part of the factory team's entry in the 2003 Dakar Rally, one of four MPR10s entered by Mitsubishi in the event. Hiroshi Masuoka drove this MPR102 to victory in the world's toughest rally ahead of his teammates by two hours.
The next outing for this unit after the Dakar was in the first round of the 2003 Off-Road Rally World Cup, the Italian Baja. Here again, with Hiroshi Masuoka at the controls, he achieved a new victory to add to the Japanese and the brand's palmares.
Subsequently the MPR102 was upgraded with a new aerodynamic package and served as a test/development car for the following seasons with drivers S.Peterhansel or H.Masuoka. Among the improvements made were improvements to the maximum engine torque or the chassis with new front and rear anti-roll bars to improve stability and reduce body roll.
With the passing of time the MPR10 was kept in the Mitsubishi team facilities until a few years ago where one of the official drivers at that time collected it for his private collection. Nowadays it is still in its original condition with the period specifications, even the discolouration of the paint on certain parts of the exterior due to the high temperatures during the Raid races can be seen.
Dakar Rally 2003:
Based on the concept car shown at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Mitsubishi Motors team developed a car that had a single destiny, to win in competition and especially in the world's toughest rally, the Dakar.
The Mitsubishi Motors team fielded four new MPR10s in Dakar, six-time Dakar motorbike winner Stephane Peterhansel, Jean-Pierre Fontenay, Hiroshi Masuoka and two-time World Rally Champion Miki Biasion.
For the first time in the 24-year history of the Dakar, neither Paris nor Dakar hosted the start and finish of the event respectively. The 2003 event started in Marseille and featured a new route through Spain, Tunisia and Libya to finish in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt).
It was expected to be a tough battle between Volkswagen, Nissan and Mitsubishi for victory in this edition, but it turned out to be a fight between the Mitsubishi Motors team-mates. Masuoka and Peterhansel quickly moved into the overall lead of the rally, exchanging positions until a stone damaged the Frenchman's front suspension when he was leading, which led to Masuoka's second consecutive Dakar victory for the Japanese.
