WRC » DAKAR: Mitsubishi calls time on raid efforts

wow they lose and then they bail out ! they sure have been a dominant scene in raids ! especially the Dakar ! will VW be next? such a shame so many spetators in this years Dakar ! who knows maybe the organizers made money? hope so !I fear it will keep on getting worse ! I'm a pessimist not an optimist ! I don't see how Moto GP can fight off Superbike with a paltry 17 bike grid ? how can F1 teams justify it ?

we lost, so we're going to take our toys away. We can blame it on the economic climate.

How many years did it take VW to develop their car and win? New stuff takes time. Mind you, Mitsubishi don't have a lot of experience with diesel.

It's easier to justify huge racing budgets if you're winning - but spending millions (or hundreds of millions) to go out there & prove to everyone that there are other manufacturers better than you isnt so clever. For Mitsubishi to get beaten by VW, Hummer, Nissan, etc is very bad for their image, worse than not racing!

It's no accident Honda F1, Suzuki WRC & Kawasaki MotoGP left after finishing 2008 last of the manufacturer entries, while Subaru has gone for years now without being championship contenders. Remember, budgets to finish last for a manufacturer are no less than those required to win ... in most cases they are actually higher since sponsors are subsidizing the winning teams.