Stéphane Peterhansel was born in France in August 1965 and now lives in Montana, Switzerland, with his girlfriend who is the rally driver and former Dakar biker Andrea Mayer. In the last 16 years he has become the most successful competitor in the history of the Dakar Rally, amassing nine outright victories, plus a win in the car T1 category.
He made his motor sport debut in a motorcycle event in 1980 and took the first of his six Dakar wins on a Yamaha in 1991. He repeated the feat in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998 before switching from two to four wheels. After contesting a number of ice races, he made his Dakar debut in a car in 1999 and finished seventh overall.
The following year saw him finish second in a Mega Special with a Mitsubishi engine and, on the 2001 event, he took the top prize in the T1 category. Peterhansel finished first overall on the 2002 Rallye de Tunisie and went on to give the Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution a winning debut on the 2002 UAE Desert Challenge. He repeated the feat in 2003, but eventually finished third in the Dakar after losing a potential victory on the penultimate stage in Egypt.
2004 was his most successful season to date in a car. Stéphane took his maiden win on the Dakar to follow Hubert Auriol into the record books as only the second driver to win the event on both two and four wheels. He also finished first in Tunisia and Morocco, before adding to his growing list of achievements with a second consecutive Dakar win with Mitsubishi in January 2005.
Stéphane finished second overall on the 2005 Patagonia-Atacama Rally at the wheel of an MPR10 version of the Pajero* Evolution, but suffered cruel luck in both Morocco and on the Baja Espana with victory seemingly in his grasp. He then crushed the opposition on the 2005 UAE Desert Challenge to claim the event for the third time in four years, and followed that up with fourth overall on the 2006 Dakar after spending several days in the lead.
He then secured Mitsubishi’s eighth victory on the Rallye de Tunisie in April 2006 and was leading June's Rallye du Maroc before the team was withdrawn from the event. After taking part in the two test sessions in Morocco with the latest MPR13, Stéphane tackled the 2006 UAE Desert Challenge as a final shakedown for the 2007 Dakar Rally and finish second behind team-mate Luc Alphand.
Continuing his winning record, the Frenchman went on to collect his third Dakar success on four wheels in January 2007 before taking victory on July's Baja Espana, as well as on the UAE Desert Challenge which rounded off the year's FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup.
Frenchman Jean-Paul Cottret was born in June 1963 and now lives with his wife Sandrine and his two children, Marine and Charlotte, near Auxerre, France. 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 Rallye de Tunisie and finished ninth overall. He was ninth in Spain the following year and then took third on 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 was second overall with Stéphane Peterhansel on the 2000 Paris-Dakar- Cairo Rally. The following season saw the pair win 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 his Dakar success with Peterhansel by winning the event for a second time in January 2005 and they were second together on 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 on the 2005 UAE Desert Challenge and went on to finish fourth on the 2006 Dakar after leading for several days. Prior to working on the development of the new MPR13, the pair clinched victory on the Rallye de Tunisie and took part in the Rallye du Maroc. In January 2007, he won the Dakar with Peterhansel for a third time before spearheading a Mitsubishi one-two on last summer's Baja Espana and navigating Peterhansel to a fourth success in the United Arab Emirates.
Career Highlights:
1984-1992 Participation in cross-country rallies as a member of different service crews
1992 9th, Rallye de Tunisie
1993 9th, Baja Espana
1994 3rd, Dakar 1st, T2 Cross-Country Rally World Cup
1995 6th, Rallye de Tunisie (1st, T1 category) 3rd, Baja Portugal (1st, T2 category)
HIROSHI MASUOKA
Hiroshi Masuoka was born in Japan in March 1960 and now lives in Iruma, Saitama, 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.
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LUC ALPHAND
Luc 'Lucho' Alphand was born in Briançon, France, in August 1965 and currently lives in Serre-Chevalier. In the 1980s and 1990s he became one of the world's most famous downhill skiers of all time, taking 12 Downhill and Super-G World Cup vi weiter >>
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He made his motor sport debut in a motorcycle event in 1980 and took the first of his six Dakar wins on a Yamaha in 1991. He repeated the feat in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998 before switching from two to four wheels. After contesting a number of ice races, he made his Dakar debut in a car in 1999 and finished seventh overall.
He participated in the 1992 Rallye de Tunisie and finished ninth overall. He was ninth in Spain the following year and then took third on the 1994 Dakar Rally and clinched the T2 Cross- Country Rally World Cup title.