Communique 2 - Kayes, Mali
Friday 7 January 2000
Leg 2 Tambacounda (Senegal) - Kayes (Mali)
Total distance: 359km - Special Stage: 212km

Mitsubishis Hold Top 3 Positions As Dakar Rally Reaches Mali

Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan grabbed the lead in the Dakar 2000 Rally today, January 7, 2000 as the trans-african epic reached Kayes in Mali after a 359 cross-border trek from Tambacounda in Senegal.

Driving in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero in incredibly dusty conditions, ably navigated by Frenchman Dominique Serieys, former Dakar winner Shinozuka headed home a trio of Ralliart supported Pajero/Monteros. Just 25 seconds behind was Carlos Sousa of Portugal, who was the overnight leader at Tambacounda, who was in turn followed by Japanese/German pairing Hiroshi Masuoka and Andreas Schulz.

Today’s stage winner in the 212km special was, however, Stephane Peterhansel in his Mitsubishi-powered "Mega Desert" special. A highly successful veteran of many Dakars on motorbikes, the French driver was delighted with his first ever stage win on four wheels in only his second Dakar in a car.

In these early stages of the event, which still has another 15 legs to run before the finish in Cairo, just over 10 minutes separate the top 11 drivers, which means they are all virtually even. Although all-girl crew Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany and Tina Thorner of Sweden are 11th in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, they still have an excellent chance of taking the lead at any time as they are only 10m 36s behind the leader!

Despite the tough conditions again today, with fast, open and winding laterite tracks giving way to tight, twisty trials-like conditions towards the end of the leg, just three cars out of the 131 starters retired before reaching Kayes.

Said rally leader Shinozuka: "It’s good to be in the overall lead, although the distance between us and Sousa at 25 seconds is very small and so much can change in the days ahead. Again we had no trouble today".

Jean-Pierre Fontenay of France, co-driven by Gilles Picard, also had a good day in his Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero and is currently in fifth position. He reported: "The car was perfect, but the dust was very bad. It was simply not possible to overtake other competitors which held us up".

Previous leader Sousa was unworried about dropping to second, explaining: "It was a good day except for the dust. The car is perfect and I am very happy with it - it’s a pleasure to drive which makes so much difference".

All drivers were delighted to have emerged from the second leg relatively unscathed since there is no overnight assistance from ariborne mechanics at Kayes, so any major repair work would have to wait.

In the T1 category, were reliability is especially important, the top Mitsubishis reported few problems and both Guinot and Andretta are well-placed at Kayes holding fourth and sixth respectively in their Pajero/Monteros, just a couple of minutes off the lead.

Tomorrow, the surviving crews in the Dakar 2000 face another hot, dusty day in the African Savanna with a long 711km drive to Bamako, of which 245 km will be driven competitively.

POSITIONS ON STAGE 2

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 2