Mitsubishi will be bringing four Racing Lancer vehicles to next year's challenging Dakar Rally and, while tearing up the landscape in a big SUV might not seem to be the most environmentally sound thing to do (because it's not) there is a green angle to the race. This is due to Mitsubishi's new turbodiesel engine that will be running on non-food-sourced biodiesel (which percentage blend Mitsubishi isn't saying). Mitsubishi is also proud of the renewable "green plastic" components - bumper corners and mud guards - made from carbon-neutral vegetable-based resins.

Should Mitsubishi win in January - and it's likely, since they've won every Dakar event since 2001 - it will be their first victory using diesel power. When we last mentioned Mitsubishi's entry in April, we said they'd be using a new 260 horsepower three-liter turbo diesel V6 engine. That number has since been bumped to 280, and the company expects the power to be increased further by the time the race starts. More details after the jump.

Following a terrorist threat earlier this year - which forced the cancellation of the 2008 rally, Dakar 2009 will take place in South America instead of West Africa. Dakar, the city, will remain in Senegal.


[Source: Mitsubishi]

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Mitsubishi has an admirable performance record with their off-road Pajero Evolution, racking up a record 12 Dakar wins since 1985. Why is the vehicle relevant to the green audience? This year, Mitsubishi has installed a new 260 horsepower three-liter turbo diesel V6 engine, which is a derivative of their previous gas-powered six cylinder engine. Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart considers this new engine part of a green initiative, with the team's new president, Osamu Nakayama, saying, "Our motor sports activity has taken a step up to establish the environmentally-friendly engineering strategy of Mitsubishi Motors." Mitsubishi believes that this new racing engine will further their research into non-food sourced biodiesel, which is something we can appreciate. They also have an Outlander chase vehicle running on diesel fuel. Hit the break for the press release.

What had been set to be the longest edition yet of the Dakar Rally now won't happen at all. A day before the race was due to kick off in Lisbon on Saturday, organizers decided to cancel the entire event. A series of terrorist attacks, including the Dec. 24 killing of a French family in Mauritania and another where several soldiers were killed along with direct threats against the race, triggered the first cancellation in the race's thirty year history. Both Mitsubishi and Volkswagen were expected to campaign squads of clean diesel-powered off-road racers. In total, 550 cars, trucks and motorcycles were expected to compete. The race has long been considered one of the most difficult rallies in the world and in the past individual stages have been canceled for various regions. At this point the future of the race is uncertain.

[Source: Associated Press]

January 2008 will mark the thirtieth running of the Dakar Rally in which competitors spend sixteen days racing thousands of miles across the Sahara. The course has been lengthened 3564 miles this time and Volkswagen is set to take another shot at beating the Mitsubishi Pajeros. The Mitsubishis have won nine of the last eleven races including all of the last seven. VW will be continuing their commitment to diesel engines in racing with the factory team entering four Race Touareg 2 TDIs. While the production Touaregs use a 3.0L V-6 TDI, the race version uses a 2.5L inline-five that puts out 285 hp in the 2007 race. The 2008 race starts on January 5.

[Source: Motoring.co.za, via GermanCarBlog, thanks to Christian for the tip]