Mitsubishi unable to defend 2023 AXCR title, finishes 3rd

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation announced that its rallying division fell short of winning the recently-concluded 2023 Asia Cross Country Rally (AXCR) after it finished third in the event overall.

Per the Japanese carmaker, Team Mitsubishi Ralliart has found itself in third place overall in the grueling seven-day rally raid held in Thailand and Laos where they fielded the all-new Triton, which will be introduced in the Philippines by January 2024.

Drivers Chayapon Yotha (former AXCR champion), Katsuhiko Taguchi, and Rifat Sungkar, landed in the third, eighth, and 32nd spots on the leaderboard, respectively.

Takuma Aoki — who drove a modified Toyota Fortuner — finished first overall while Tubagus Moerinsyahdi — also aboard a rally-spec Fortuner — came in second.

“The course was a grueling one, with intense heat in the summer with almost no rain despite the rainy season, as well as high-speed driving over some of the toughest road conditions in recent years. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart entered this rally with the all-new Triton, which had undergone a full model change and had evolved in all aspects. Although we had to build rally cars in a short period of time as it was a new model that had just been launched, we were able to demonstrate its performance in many areas and came in third place overall,” Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Team Director Hiroshi Masuoka was quoted saying.

“Unfortunately, we did not win the championship for the second year in a row, but we were able to complete the rally with all three Tritons without losing a single car, using almost the same specifications as mass-produced cars and using parts from production cars, which convinced us that our direction in car manufacturing was on the right track. We were also able to gain technical feedback that we should reflect on production vehicles, as well as issues on how to improve the competitiveness of our rally cars, making this a very meaningful event. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support and our fans around the world for their enthusiastic cheering,” he concluded.

Photos from Mitsubishi

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