Dakar Rally news

PREPARED AND CONFIDENTLY TO THE START

After many months of detailed preparations, members of Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart are counting the hours before the start of the 2007 Dakar Rally. Tomorrow they will start from the Portuguese capital.

Their four new Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution MPR13s have been meticulously prepared at MMSP’s workshops in Pont-de-Vaux and the gleaming quartet attracted massive interest from spectators and media alike at the official technical checks. Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart has based its operation at Mitsubishi Portugal’s headquarters in Lisbon in the three-day build-up to the Dakar Rally.

"People say I am the defending champion and I am the favorite and will have pressure, but I say no," said defending champion Luc Alphand. “I will do my best. We have a great team and I am confident that the ‘reds’ can win the rally again.”

"We have been working for 16 months on this project and Mitsubishi has been involved in the Dakar Rally for 25 years," said MMSP’s Managing and Sporting Director Dominique Serieys. "The team is motivated and we are raring to go."

January 6th marks the official start of the 2007 Dakar Rally with a 117 km selective section between the Portuguese capital and the Algarve tourist town of Portimao. It will take place over hilly farmland terrain in the Alentejo wine region to the southeast of Lisbon.