Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has announced that it will be providing technical support to Team Mitsubishi Ralliart. The said team will then compete at the upcoming 2022 Asia Cross Country Rally (AXCR), from August 6 to 12.
The rally-spec Strada (Triton) for 2022 AXCR
Team Mitsubishi Ralliart is a separate entity owned by Thailand-based Tant Sports. Despite that, this effectively marks the return of Mitsubishi to rallying.
Remember also that the Japanese marque revived the Ralliart brand name back in November 2021. Ralliart is of course, a nameplate closely associated with Rallying, it had a string of victories at the Dakar Rally from 2004 to 2007.
So, what is Team Mitsubishi Ralliart using for AXCR? Well, it's going to compete in the said race with a heavily modified Mitsubishi Strada (Triton in other markets).
As the photos suggest, this particular Strada comes with oodles of ground clearance. Mitsubishi didn’t actually release any specifics about the said truck’s specs, but we reckon that the aforementioned is provided by a significant suspension lift. We can also presume that it also has a stronger set of suspension components. Those are then paired up with a set of beefy all-terrain tires, and off-road spec wheels.
The Strada is rally ready
With all that, the Team Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Strada will be able to deal with the mountains and jungles of Southeast Asia. The best part of this is that Mitsubishi will then gather data from the AXCR in order to gain insights on how to further refine and improve the Strada.
This of course mirrors the way the Japanese brand improved the consumer version of the Mitsubishi Pajero back in the day. Specifically, they took what they learned from Dakar, and applied it to the production version Pajero.
Hopefully, Mitsubishi’s re-entry into motorsport activities like AXCR will indeed take their future products to the next level.
If you want to catch the latest automotive industry updates, keep reading here on the Philippines’ largest automotive portal.