- Team Aims to Take Back the Championship with the New, More Powerful Triton Rally Car
Team Mitsubishi Ralliart will be competing in the Asia Cross Country Rally (hereafter, AXCR) from Thailand to Malaysia scheduled for August of this year. The team will be aiming to claim the championship with a modified cross-country version of the Triton pickup truck (the T1 prototype) while further reinforcing its overall strength, focusing on enhanced power performance.
At last year’s AXCR, Team Mitsubishi Ralliart competed with three all-new Tritons, which had just undergone a full model change, and Chayapon Yotha (Thailand) took the 3rd place overall. It also received the Team Award, which is awarded to the team that entries with two or more and all finished the rally, and is based on the total time of the top two entries. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart used the sporty handling and exceptional reliability of the all-new Triton to take on competitors with high-displacement engines and high power. The Triton rally car competing in this year’s AXCR will be even more refined and evolved overall with enhanced acceleration performance and road handling, and Team Mitsubishi Ralliart is ready for the victory.
Today, at the 45th Bangkok International Motor Show, the Triton rally car that will be competing in the AXCR 2024 was revealed with its new livery. In line with last year’s rally car which had a red and black motif that symbolised the energy of gushing lava, this year’s rally car retains the energetic red, while adopting a digitised image of dust at the front and continuing to the side. Toward the back are gunmental gray graphics that represent the gushing lava solidifying into hard volcanic rock. Together, the new livery embodies the dynamism, durability, and reliability of the Triton rally car.
“Last year, we confirmed the toughness and durability of the all-new Triton in the grueling conditions of AXCR 2023,” said Hiroshi Masuoka, team director of Team Mitsubishi Ralliart. “The rally also reaffirmed that the Triton’s strengths lie in its sporty handling and its excellent road handling on rough terrain. This year will be our second year competing with the new-gen Triton, and we have made the Triton rally car more powerful and enhanced its driving performance by widening the tread further so that we can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with competitors’ vehicles with high-displacement engines. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart is taking on the crown, and we look forward to your support.”
Overview of AXCR 2024
AXCR is the ASEAN region’s largest cross-country rally. This year’s rally, the 29th in its history, will begin with a ceremonial start held in Surat Thani, on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in the south of Thailand, on August 11th. The competition will begin the next day, on the 12th. AXCR will take the rally drivers south through Thailand, crossing into Malaysia on the 15th and finishing on the 17th at the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Covering approximately 2,000 kilometers, over 1,000 kilometers of which will be special stages, the course this year is expected to be even more gruelling than ever, with a wide range of terrain such as mountains, jungle, and river crossings that will demand exceptional road handling, durability, and high-speed.
“Mitsubishi Motors’ engineers continue to use motorsport and gruelling rallies to thoroughly test their vehicles, ensuring durability and toughness that the Triton stands for, is delivered to their adventure-spirited customers. The all-new Triton will be ready to experience later this year in South Africa.” says Jeffrey Allison, General Manager: Marketing at Mitsubishi Motors South Africa (MMSA).
