Kenjiro_Shinozuka
Kenjiro Shinozuka
Japanese rally driver (1948–2024)
Kenjiro Shinozuka (篠塚 建次郎, Shinozuka Kenjirō, November 20, 1948 – March 18, 2024) was a Japanese rally driver. After his debut in 1967, his greatest successes were as a works driver for Mitsubishi Motors. Behind the wheel of a Galant VR-4 he won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1988 and scored consecutive victories in the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama in 1991 and 1992, when it was a round of the World Rally Championship, making him the first Japanese competitor to win a WRC event.[1] He was also of note for his success in the Dakar Rally, where he became the first Japanese winner of the world's most famous endurance rally in 1997 driving a Mitsubishi Pajero.[2]
Shinozuka resigned from Mitsubishi in 2002,[3] but continued to compete. He drove a Nissan pickup in the 2003 Dakar, but after hitting a sand dune he rolled his vehicle several times, enduring severe facial injuries and being placed in a coma. His co-driver Thierry Delli-Zotti suffered fractures to both his legs, although unlike Shinuzoka his injuries were not life-threatening.[4]
Shinuzoka announced before the 2006 event that it would be his final appearance as a competitor, saying "[m]y decision has been taken: it’s my last Dakar. But I still hope to enjoy myself one last time behind the steering wheel. To win? No, that’s not my goal. After that, I don’t yet know what I’ll do but I do know that we need new talents in Japan. Just look at our drivers, they're all sixty or over, like Asaga san or Sugawara san… So I might help out in finding new promising competitors for the future."[5] However, despite this, he returned for the 2007 Dakar, again driving a Nissan, and finished in 59th place out of the 109 cars that finished the race.
Kenjiro Shinozuka died after a battle with pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, on March 18, 2024. He was 75.[6]
