Mitsubishi is the latest manufacturer to enter the T1+ arena with their latest challenger, the Triton Ultimate Racing. Guiga Spinelli will début the vehicle at next week’s Rally dos Sertões.
The Triton was designed in a partnership between Spinelli Racing and Mitsubishi Motors Brasil. Approximately thirty team members contributed to the effort, which began following the 2023 race.
“Seeing this Brazilian car being born and now moving on to testing and development in the biggest rally in the Americas is a great source of pride,” said Spinelli. “We used the most advanced technology materials and components from the top manufacturers in the sport in this car, but we had a very short time to execute the project, which further represents the strength, competence, and dedication of our team.
“At Sertões 2024, we will have an excellent testing laboratory, an opportunity to better understand where we are with the car’s development and to evolve every day. We are confident in the capacity and high level of competitiveness that this prototype can gradually reach.”
Spinelli finished thirteenth in the 2023 Rally dos Sertões, where he drove a Mitsubishi L200 Triton Sport. It was Mitsubishi Motors Brasil’s first start since the 2015 Dakar Rally with Carlos Sousa, while the parent company was previously a twelve-time Dakar winner before cutting back in 2009.
Since then, Mitsubishi’s regional subsidiaries have carried the torch. Japan’s Team Mitsubishi Ralliart, who oversaw the Dakar programme, won the Asia Cross Country Rally in 2022. Their Tritons, which recorded a highest run of fifth at the latest AXCR last weekend, are traditional T1 (Ultimate) cars rather than T1+ like their Brazilian counterpart.
The Triton Ultimate Racing features a 450-horsepower engine, a Sadev sequential transmission, Reiger shock absorbers, and Xtrac differential. To comply with T1+ regulation, it features 37-inch wheels, a 320-millimetre tread width, and 350 mm of suspension travel.
T1+ cars are the top subclass in the rally raid realm. The Toyota Hilux, of which there are three models available from Toyota Gazoo Racing, Overdrive Racing, and WCT Engineering, has been the best so far at Dakar and in the World Rally-Raid Championship, while X-raid’s Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus has enjoyed titles at the FIA Baja level. Century Racing fields the CR7 while Prodrive has the Hunter and Dacia Sandrider. Ford is represented by the Raptor of M-Sport, Ranger of Neil Woolridge Motorsport, and F-150 EVO of MING Racing Sports. Red-Lined Motorsport utilises the REVO T1+ globally as well as the REVO GT-R in South Africa. China has its own T1+ courtesy of JJsport called the JJ3.
The Sertões Rally, which runs 23–31 August, is the eighth round of the Campeonato Brasileiro de Rally Cross Country (Brazilian Cross Country Rally Championship). Spinelli is a five-time race winner with victories in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013, and 2014.