Summary (2002 - Aras - Dakar)

Although the Mitsubishis were traded as hot favourites in 2002, the overwhelming victory was anything but certain. Tough competition was expected from the Renault Kangoo buggies, with Jean-Louis Schlesser and Jose Maria Servia at the wheel. Nissan, too, with Stephane Peterhansel and Gregoire De Mevius, was considered a hard opponent. And so it came to pass that De Mevius found himself in first place before the rally crossed over to Africa. But once in Africa, Masuoka instantly grabbed the lead and did not give it up again until the finish. The threat of the Schlesser buggies never became reality, as they had to battle engine problems early on. The danger to Mitsubishi's victory manifested itself more and more in De Mevius, who with his Terrano swept through the first half of the rally in third place, close behind the Mitsubishis. But in Zouerat he too was struck by engine problems and could no longer keep up with the pace of the Mitsubishis. From that moment on it was certain that a Mitsubishi would win the rally. The only question was: which one? Mitsubishi clearly stated for the record that there would be no team orders, and so a battle unfolded between Masuoka, Kleinschmidt and Shinozuka for the overall victory. On the circuit of Atar, Kleinschmidt and Shinozuka fought a thrilling head-to-head race, in which each of the two contenders was plagued by small mishaps. In the end, Jutta Kleinschmidt emerged as the winner after Shinozuka rammed a tree and suffered a puncture. Masuoka extended his lead further and caused a moment of shock when he jumped over a sand dune side by side with Jean-Pierre Fontenay and the two Pajeros came within a hair's breadth of touching. But this incident ended without harm, and at the end of the stage Masuoka had extended his lead over second place to an almost unassailable 52 minutes. Actually, with a 52-minute lead it should be easy to win a race, but this was the Dakar, and as everyone knows a lot can happen there before all four tyres have rolled over the finish line. And on the route between Tichit and Kiffa, the actually impossible then happened. A heavy storm and rainfall turned the route into a mudslide. Even the most experienced Dakar veterans had never seen a picture and a route like the one the drivers were now facing. In poor visibility and difficult terrain, almost the entire field missed a badly marked waypoint from the roadbook and got lost. Kleinschmidt, however, navigated perfectly and made up 20 minutes on Shinozuka. Despite this magnificent performance, it was no longer possible for Kleinschmidt to make up the remaining time on Masuoka on the short circuit around Dakar, and so a beaming Masuoka could be seen on the finish ramp in Dakar, having won a truly hard and unusual rally.

Final standings

Pos.	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Overall time
1	201	Masuoka	Mitsubishi Pajero	46.11.30
2	200	Kleinschmidt	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 00.22.01
3	210	Shinozuka	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 00.35.15
4	207	Fontenay	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 01.37.30
5	204	Sousa	Mitsubishi L200	+ 05.20.57
6	241	Hajri	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 08.24.51
7	216	Alphand	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 10.40.02
8	225	Kolberg	Mitsubishi Pajero	+ 12.21.09
9	239	Ratet	Toyota	+ 15.48.03
10	206	Delavergne	Nissan Terrano	+ 17.57.23