Summary (1994 - Paris - Dakar - Paris)

The 16th Dakar went down in history as one of the most dramatic, with the Mitsubishi team showing a degree of honour and unity that was achieved by no other team - and while the Pajeros were withdrawn from the race, they were nevertheless the only machines that managed to cross the Death Dunes of the Mauritanian desert. After early problems, the Pajeros were right in the middle of a rapid fightback when they came upon the Mauritanian dunes. This section of the desert had never before been crossed by motorised vehicles, and so Mitsubishi's rivals gave up and drove straight to the bivouac. The Pajeros stayed on the course, and under the leadership of Saby they fought a thirty-hour battle with the desert and emerged from the fight as the only vehicles ever to have crossed this part of the desert.   The only thanks for their efforts was that the section was removed from the classification. The other crews had got off lightly, but the Mitsubishi team was too drained, and so the prototypes had to be taken out of the race. With pride and satisfaction, and with the knowledge that the Pajeros had achieved what no one else was capable of, the Mitsubishi team looked back on its successes, not least the victory in the standard and modified classes.

Final Standings

Pos.	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Overall Time
1	206	Saby	Mitsubishi Pajero	24.56.02
2	210	Lartigue	Citroen ZX	+ 01.09.45
3	212	Auriol	Citroen ZX	+ 04.02.08
4	207	Weber	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 06.14.38
5	205	Shinozuka	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 06.24.51
6	209	Servia	Lada Samara	+ 08.25.24
7	214	Ambrosiono	Citroen ZX	+ 11.10.45
8	211	Vatanen	Citroen ZX	+ 11.42.58
9	215	Vismara	Land Rover	+ 15.19.47
10	500	Perlini	Perlin 105F	+ 16.32.53