Rally ready: 2024 Mitsubishi Triton Strada will defend AXCR crown

To show the world Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s (MMC) confidence in the all-new 2024 Triton Strada, on the same day as the global launch, the marque wasted no time in confirming the pickup truck’s participation in the upcoming Asia Cross Country Rally (AXCR) in August 2023.

Three 2024 Triton Strada units will be fielded by Team Mitsubishi Ralliart for the AXCR 2023. These will be driven by Chayapon Yotha (Thailand), champion driver of last year's AXCR; Rifat Sungkar (Indonesia), who placed 5th overall last year; and Katsuhiko Taguchi (Japan), who won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1999 and 2010. Team director Hiroshi Masuoka and Mitsubishi Motors engineers will work with the rally crew, accompanying the team throughout the rally in the Delica D:5 support vehicle.

"We are very excited to be able to take on the competition with the all-new Triton, which has been fully redesigned and evolved significantly in all aspects. Triton rally cars have undergone over 2,000 km of endurance testing in Japan and Thailand with no major problems, and we have confirmed that they provide even better performance than last year's model in every stage, from flat dirt high-speed stages to muddy low-speed stages. We will be driving with three rally cars, each of which is competing for the overall victory, and we want to take the championship position up on the podium for another consecutive victory," said Masuoka.

MMC did not tweak the 2024 Triton Strada too much to showcase how its full redesign and evolution can withstand the rigors of the rally. The vehicles will be based on the Thai-spec double cab model in compliance with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Group T1 restrictions for modified cross-country vehicles.

The few modifications done by MMC are for safety (roll cage and bumper guard), weight reduction (carbon fiber parts including the hood, front and rear doors, and cargo bed), and its ability to handle harsh terrain (extended tread, rally-specific front and rear suspension, limited-slip differential, lightweight aluminum wheels, narrow off-road tires, front and rear twin dampers, and bump stops).

It will use the newly developed engine of the production version – a lighter 2.4 L diesel turbo engine with reduced friction loss and a new turbocharger. It sends 204 PS and 470 Nm of torque to the wheels via its Super Select 4WD-II.

The AXCR 2023 will be held in August, where teams will race from Thailand to Laos.