Mitsubishi Annihilates the Entire Class Seven
Opposition at the Finke

Driving the current Pajero NM model, 2001 National Class Champion and 2001 Class Seven (4x4 Stock Standard) Champion, Geoff Pickering has annihilated the Class Seven opposition at the Finke Desert Race, Round Two of the 2002 Australian Off Road Championship. Run during the Queen's birthday week-end over sections of the Old Ghan Railway service track, the 460km long two-day event attracted some 102 crews who tested their driving skills over 230km of red dirt, corrugations, spinifex, breakneck straights and treacherous corners from Alice Springs to Finke - and back.

Tailor-made for very fast open wheelers, the race went to five times Australian Off Road Champion Mark Burrows and his Class One Jimco buggy. Only 58 cars covered the entire distance. Geoff finished 26th overall.

All too aware that it was his first outing at the Finke, the Townsville-based Mitsubishi dealer started cautiously, finishing the first section, Alice-Finke, second in class, 2mn35s behind Colin Hunter (4,5 litre Jeep Wrangler) and 13mn ahead of the New 4,8 litre Nissan of former Class Seven champion Les Siviour.

Having fully assessed the potential of the Pajero NM over the unforgiving terrain, Geoff let loose on the return run, improving his "down" time by more than 4mn. So fast was he that he even managed to beat the Holden Works endurance raid purpose-built Class Eight (4x4 prototype) Jackaroo of multi-time Safari winner and multi-time Finke entrant Bruce Garland.

More importantly, Geoff was the only Class Seven national entrant to finish the event following the retirement during the home run of Hunter (fuel problems) and Siviour (stick through radiator). He now comfortably leads the 2002 Class Seven Championship with 125 points against 62 to Bobbie-Lee Siviour (a non-entrant at Alice), 52 to Les Siviour and 20 to Colin Hunter.

"As usual, our Pajero NM was sensational and unbelievably reliable", commented Pickering's navigator, Glen Watson, afterwards. "Once again", he noted, "the car performed faultlessly; we are very happy with the product, for wherever we take the Pajero, it runs absolutely perfectly, even under the most atrocious road conditions."

"Bearing in mind that we were actually 'discovering' the Finke", added Geoff, "we had a sensational run both ways, and the trip home, in particular, was amazingly fast. We are very happy about the way the car performs and very happy about how we work as a team. We were constantly able to maintain a very top speed on the fast sections and this confirms how excellent our Pajero really is."

Geoff also stated that the car finished in such a good condition that it was virtually "ready-to-race" in the next round. That will be the Powerhouse 500 (aptly nicknamed the "Bathurst" of off roading), scheduled for 20-21 July in Kempsey.