Shocking news from Japan: all the work of Mitsubishi Motorsports is stopped, so there will be no more rallying, no more Dakar prizes.

The automaker has taken part in Dakar rally 26 times, 12 of which were won. The Japanese manufacturer got so good in sport that it kept coming first seven times in a row. But those days are in the past because the company is cutting corners as well as many other firms and sport suffers first as an unnecessary luxury.

Mitsubishi claims its good results in rallies for the four-wheel-drive technology which is used in most of the production vehicles as well. The last Dakar race that took place in South America was not as good for the Japanese team as the previous ones: diesel-powered Lancer had to give up to the stronger Volkswagen Touareg.

We have already heard about Honda giving up on Formula-1, Suzuki and Subaru pulling out of World Racing Championship, Kawasaki leaving MotoGP, Audi and Porsche removing from ALMS... The marques disappear from racing lists, will there be anybody left?