Kenjiro Shinozuka, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Kenjiro Shinozuka

Japanese rally driver

Date of Birth: 20-Nov-1948

Place of Birth: Ōta-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Profession: racing automobile driver, rally driver

Nationality: Japan

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


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About Kenjiro Shinozuka

  • Kenjiro Shinozuka (?? ???, Shinozuka Kenjiro, born November 20, 1948 in Ota, Tokyo) is a Japanese rally driver.
  • Since his debut in 1967, his greatest successes have been 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.
  • He is 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.Shinozuka resigned from Mitsubishi in 2002, 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.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." 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.

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