Five-time Safari Rally champion and current FIA World Rally Championship commission president Shekhar Mehta died from pneumonia on April 12, he was 60 years old.
Mehta first drove in the Safari Rally in 1971, when Datsun’s first choice driver Joginder Singh switched to Ford and, as a result, Mehta was offered a works 240Z, which he drove to 2nd place. In 1973, he won his first Safari Rally for Datsun before briefly switching allegiances to Lancia. However, after a relatively lackluster spell with Lancia he returned to Datsun in 1976 and went on to win a further four consecutive Safari Rallies through 1980.
