Assistance camions were displayed in the parking space beside the Garage and competition vehicles were lined up in front of the camions. The rally cars, just decorated in their colors, were placed on plastic sheets where they were jacked up with their tires removed, while groups posed in front for photos. The venue was humming with excitement as if the African stage had already begun.
 |
Jun Mitsuhashi, who will drive a Nissan pickup for his third challenge after switching to four wheels, and his navigator Jacky Dubois (France) were together introduced to the assembled press, before whom they reaffirmed their resolve to participate. Mitsuhashi, once an international enduro race rider, completed the Dakar Rally on a motorcycle in a top place three years running. He then switched to four wheels, being selected for the NISMO Japanese rookie driver training program. In 2005 when he stepped up to a Super-Production-spec X-Trail, he survived the long stage of the middle of the race when many cars ran out of petrol, moving up to finish 11th overall and achieving the illustrious position of best finish out of all the Japanese in the race. In the coming Dakar,he will be the first Japanese competitor to drive a Nissan pickup for Dessoude. With Jacky Dubois, a thoroughly committed member of Team Dessoude with 20 years’ experience, as his navigator, this year’s Dessoude crew is aiming at a top prize.
 |
Mitsuhashi, who came to France direct from Johannesburg last week, said: “It felt a real challenge to familiarize myself with Nissan pickups through my two driver training sessions in South Africa. I have been paired with Jacky Dubois, a navigator who is one of the best in the business and for me, now on my third attempt, the team setup is superb. I will be trying my very best to utilize this opportunity and get a good result.” Dubois also expressed great hopes: “I’ll be trying to control the pace while bringing out Jun’s strong points. As I cannot speak English, communication will have to be in French. Jun is studying so it should be all right. There will be considerable restrictions on the use of GPS in this rally, and as a navigator I will enjoy that.”
The important points (the “way points”) on the course have already been input into the GPS provided by the sponsors. The GPS will show such information as the bearing and distance to a way point from the current location, as well as any route deviation (cross track error) from the shortest path in a straight line from one point behind to the next point ahead. But these types of information will not be shown until the vehicle approaches within a 3-km radius of a way point. As a result, the navigator will basically have to plot the route using only the distance (the trip meter) and bearing information shown on the road map’s grid diagrams. Accordingly, differences in navigators’ abilities cannot help but have a large influence on the outcome of the race. Mitsuhashi made the following predictions concerning this year’s course: “The Mauritanian stage, which is normally the peak of the rally, is relatively short this time, and the problem is that it will be difficult to open up a lead on any rivals. The real battle to decide things will probably be from the day we leave Zouerat and on the long stage between Nouakchott and Kiffa on the first day of the second half of the race.”
While Nissan’s works entries in the Dakar Rally are over with the 2005 rally, Nissan has always been fielded one of the largest number of entries in the Dakar. The Dessoude Team, a powerful entrant block, has won in its class many times and has also been in contention for an overall win. The Dessoude team has entered a total of nine competition cars in the Super Production and Production classes in 2006 and Carlos Souza, who is driving one of these — the Nissan Navara — is attracting considerable hope and interest as a leading contender in the fight for winner. The Navara is based on the 2005-spec works car. Christophe Chapelain, a works team engineer, is continuing as engineer. The development of the rally Navara was carried out in a workshop set up in one corner of the Dessoude Garage. The Navara’s engine mapping has been altered for the coming Dakar to produce powerful torque from lower revs. In addition, its suspension has been tuned to relieve the rear bounce that occurred when driving over holes. In the 2005 rally, Souza drive an ‘03 model Nissan pickup to slot into fifth place overall, and in the coming rally, which starts in his native Portugal, he should be very highly motivated. His navigator will be Jean-Marie Lurquin (Belgium), who was paired with Giniel De Villiers in the 2005 Dakar.
 |
In addition, Kenjiro Shinozuka will be entering with a new model Pathfinder, which he will drive for the Italian Technosports Team. The Chinese Zhengzhou Nissan Team will make another attempt this time with two Chinese-made Nissan Paladin pickups. Rene Metge, a former Dakar Rally and Paris-Beijing Rally course director, and Paul Belmondo, former F1 driver will be driving T2-spec Nissan Pathfinders. The Nissan entrants in this year’s rally are a newsworthy group.
