Kenjiro Shinozuka, who was the first Japanese driver to win a WRC event and the Paris-Dakar Rally, has sadly passed away at the age of 75, following a battle with cancer. Born in Tokyo, Kenjiro competed in Japanese rallies whilst working as a employee of Mitsubishi Motors and in 1988 he won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.

It was in 1991 when Kenjiro made history by winning the Ivory Coast Rally alongside co-driver John Meadows and becoming the first Japanese driver to win a WRC event. He went on to victory once again at the same event the following year and other notable successes came in the Paris-Dakar Rally, where he scored a third and second place in 1987 and 1988 respectively, going on to became the first Japanese winner of the Dakar Rally in 1997, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero.

As a fitting tribute to a successful motorsport career, Kenjiro was inducted into the Japanese Automobile hall of fame in 2022.

R.I.P. Shinozuka San

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