Frenchman Jean-Paul Cottret was born in June 1963 and now lives with his wife Sandrine and two children Marine and Charlotte, near Auxerre. Between 1984 and 1992 he was actively involved in Cross-Country rallies as a member of various service crews, before making the switch to the co-driver’s seat.He participated in the 1992 Rally of Tunisia and finished ninth overall, ninth in Spain the following year and then took third overall in the 1994 Dakar Rally and clinched the T2 Cross-Country Rally World Cup title. Numerous top class results followed in events such as Tunisia, the Australian Safari, Morocco and Egypt and he finished second overall with Stéphane Peterhansel in the 2000 Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally.The following season the pair won the T1 category, before joining the Mitsubishi team to take a series of outright wins in Tunisia, Dubai, Morocco and a maiden Dakar Rally triumph in January 2004. Cottret repeated the outright success with Peterhansel by winning the Dakar Rally for the second time in January 2005 and finished second overall in the Patagonia-Atacama Rally.After disappointments in Morocco and Spain, the pair gave the revised MPR12 version of the Pajero* Evolution a successful shakedown with a crushing win in the 2005 UAE Desert Challenge and went on to finish fourth in the 2006 Dakar Rally after leading for several days. Prior to working on the development of the new MPR13, the pair clinched victory in the Rally of Tunisia and took part in the Rally of Morocco.1984-1992: Participation in Cross-Country Rallies as service crew.1992: 9th overall in the Rally of Tunisia1993: 9th overall in the Baja Spain1994: 3rd overall, Dakar Rally; T2 Cross-Country Rally World Cup title1995: 6th overall and 1st in T1 in the Rally of Tunisia 3rd overall and 1st in T2 in the Baja Portugal1996: 3rd overall and 1st in T1 in the Australian Safari 5th overall and 1st in T2 in the Master Rally1997: 3rd overall and 1st in T2 in the Rally of Morocco 3rd overall and 1st in T1 in the Australian Safari 1st overall in the Rally Monte Carlo Electric1998: 1st overall in the Baja Portugal1999: 1st overall in the Egypt Rally2000: 2nd overall, Dakar Rally; 5th overall, Rally of Morocco; 4th overall, 1st diesel in Masters Rally; 8th overall, UAE Desert Challenge2001: 2nd overall, Baja Italy, 1st in diesel category2002: 1st overall, Rally of Tunisia; 1st overall, UAE Desert Challenge, all in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution2003: 3rd overall, Dakar Rally; 2nd overall, Baja Italy; 1st overall, UAE Desert Challenge, all in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution2004: 1st overall, Dakar Rally; 1st overall, Rally of Tunisia; 1st overall Rally of Morocco; 8th overall, UAE Desert Challenge, all in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution2005: 1st overall in the Dakar Rally 2nd overall in the Patagonia-Atacama Rally 1st overall in the UAE Desert Challenge2006: 4th overall, Dakar Rally; 1st overall Rally of Tunisia
