1987: 29th overall in the Dakar Rally 1990: 10th overall in the Dakar Rally (1st in T2 category)1992: 20th overall in the Paris-Le Cap 1994: 4th overall in the Dakar Rally1995: 10th overall in the Dakar Rally1996: 6th overall in the Granada-Dakar Rally1997: 4th overall in the Dakar Rally1998: 4th overall in the Paris-Granada-Dakar Rally1999: 6th overall in the Granada-Dakar Rally2000: 6th overall in the Dakar Rally 2001: 2nd overall in the Dakar Rally 2002: 1st overall in the Dakar Rally 2nd overall in the Rally of Morocco 2003: 1st overall in the Dakar Rally in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution 1st overall in the Baja Italy in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution2004: 2nd overall in the Dakar Rally in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution 1st overall in the UAE Desert Challenge in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution2005: 3rd overall in the Rally of Tunisia in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution Forced to retire from the 2005 Dakar Rally, mechanical problems2006: Entered the Rally of Tunisia, Rally of Morocco and UAE Desert Challenge Forced to retire from the 2006 Dakar Rally, following an accident Hiroshi Masuoka was born in Japan in March 1960 and now lives in Irurna, Saitama, in Japan with his wife Chiaki and son Shoichiro. He first began off-road racing in 1979 and attempted the Dakar Rally for the first time in 1987. In 1990 he finished first in the T2 category and then took fourth position four years later. Between 1995 and 2000 he finished inside the top 10 on six occasions, the highlight being a pair of fourth places in 1997 and 1998. He made the podium and runners-up spot the following season in a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, but his finest hour came in 2002 when he became only the second Japanese driver in history to win the Dakar Rally with the official Mitsubishi team. Hiroshi took a second successive victory in 2003, in addition to a late win in the Baja Italy. He then finished runner-up behind team mate Stéphane Peterhansel in 2004. After a quiet few months, he returned to action in October 2004 to win the UAE Desert Challenge for the first time at his sixth attempt, but retired from the 2005 Dakar Rally with engine problems. His second event of the 2005 season netted the Japanese driver third position in the Rally of Tunisia and he went on to attend both of Mitsubishi’s Moroccan test sessions, the team’s fitness program at Chamonix in France and then tackled the Baja Portalègre in October as a final shakedown test for the Dakar. An accident in Morocco ruined his chances of taking a third victory on the event in five years in January 2006, but he set several competitive selective section times in the Rally of Morocco at the start of June and was an integral part of the development team during Mitsubishi’s test sessions in Morocco in June and September 2006.
