Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Team driver Stéphane Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret clinched their third victory in the Optic 2000 Rally of Tunisia. The victory was the team’s 19th win out of 21 starts with the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution – only defeats in Morocco in 2004 and South America’s Patagonia-Atacama Rally last March have blotted a clean sweep of international rally wins.
Peterhansel’s success marked Mitsubishi’s fourth win in Tunisia in the last five years and the Japanese manufacturer’s eighth triumph on the event since Frenchman Jean Da Silva’s first win back in 1987. Peterhansel and Cottret won the event together in 2002 and 2004 and ’Peter’ was twice a winner on factory motorcycles in 1990 and 1994.
The result also means that Stéphane Peterhansel joins his Mitsubishi team mate Luc Alphand at the head of the driver’s points standings in this year’s FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup. Alphand claimed 15 points for his victory in last month’s Patagonia-Atacama Rally. Peterhansel’s winning margin over Volkswagen’s Giniel de Villiers was 7m 13s, with third-placed Jean-Louis Schlesser 15m 33s adrift.
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