Communique 4 - Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
Sunday 9 January 2000
Leg 4 Bamako (Mali) - Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)
Total distance: 608km - Special Stage: 286km

Mitsubishis Dominate Dakar Rally at Burkina Faso

Team Ralliart supported Mitsubishi Pajero/Monteros still dominate the Dakar 2000 Rally as the epic event reaches its third country, Burkina Faso today, January 9, 2000. All-girl crew Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany and Tina Thorner of Sweden won the fourth leg today in their Mitsubishi, while Japanese ace Kenjiro Shinozuka, navigated by Frenchman Dominique Serieys, is still in front overall in the car class in his Pajero/Montero.

Heat and dust again played a major role on the 286 km special stage that took the surviving competitors from Mali into Burkina Faso. The fast, winding route on rough clay tracks baked hard by the sun twisted through the tropical rain forests of West Africa, and with such deep, thick vegetation overtaking slower competitors was hazardous to the point of being almost impossible.

Kleinschmidt was delighted with her stage win after having such a troubled start to the event, especially on the third leg where she suffered three punctured tyres. However, her winning margin was extraordinarily small - after 286 km she beat rival and former team mate Jean-Louis Schlesser of France by just six seconds! She revealed: "It is obviously a pleasure to win a special stage, even by so little. My target is to pick up one place per day, then by the finish we will be well placed!"

With 14 days of driving left to go, Kleinschmidt looks well placed as she now lies ninth overall, less than 20 minutes behind the leader, fellow Mitsubishi driver Shinozuka who reported few problems on today’s leg.

Said Shinozuka: "Today’s average speed was very fast. It’s maybe the first time I have driven so fast on an event like this for so long. I started in first place this morning and it was very difficult for me to overtake the motorbikes. I will start later on the road tomorrow, so hopefully it won’t be as bad and I can run faster".

Second-placed French pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard completed the stage, however, with brake problems on their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero.

Fontenay explained: "20 km from the end of the special our brakes went. We decided to carry on slowly rather than stop and fix the problem and in the end we didn’t lose too much time. At least it didn’t happen at the beginning of the special. Up until now we’ve raced our race on a day to day basis. The important thing is to stay in the lead group and not get left behind before the sand stages".

Schlesser is still third in his buggy, despite scoring second fastest on the fourth leg, but he’s closing in fast on the leading trio in this closest of competitions. Mitsubishi pair Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan and Andreas Schulz of Germany is hard on his heels in fourth place in their Pajero/Montero, while Stephane Peterhansel of France is close behind in fifth in his Mitsubishi-powered Mega Desert special.

After what promises to be an entertaining overnight rest halt in Bobo Dioulasso, the remaining competitors will start out tomorrow for another long drive over rolling laterite tracks through dense vegetation for 762 km to Ouagadougou. The stage will be one of the longest so far at 485 km, but from Ouagadougou the event promises to get even tougher as the scenery changes to the more desert-like Sahel and the stages get longer and longer.

POSITIONS ON STAGE 4

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 4