Former rally raid driver Kenjiro Shinozuka has died at the age of 75 from pancreatic cancer. He won the Paris-Dakar in 1997 at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Pajero, becoming the first Japanese and the first non-European to win this event. He began his professional career as a simple car salesman for the Japanese company. After starting in rallying the same year for the Mitsubishi factory team, he was involved in the rally-raid program winning the event in 1997. He won a total of 21 stages.
He still drives regularly in rallying and took part in the Africa Eco Race in 2018 in the Sahara Desert with Isuzu. In WRC rallying he won the Ivory Coast Rally twice in 1991 and 1992, again in a Mitsubishi, this time a Galant.
