Communique 6 - Niamey, Niger
Tuesday 11 January 2000
Leg 6 Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) - Niamey (Niger)
Total distance: 683km - Special Stage: 515km

Mitsubishi Strengthens Lead
As Dakar Rally Reaches Niger

The year 2000 Dakar has been stormed! According to the information which TSO received from the French Foreign Ministry and State Department, an external attack may occur on the Dakar Rally during its passage in Niger. Due to the threat of terrorist activity, the rally will not continue on tomorrow’s stage. Although TSO has received from the Niger authorities their full co-operation and protection, security being the first priority, the organisers have decided to cancel all the stages in Niger, and air lift the entire rally from Niamey, Niger to the airports of Sabbah and Waw el Kebir, Libya. This operation will begin on January 12th and should be terminated on Sunday, January 16th. TSO wishes to continue the race as of Monday, January 17.

Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka increased his lead on the sixth leg of the Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally, today, January 11, 2000, as the event crossed the border between Burkina Faso and Niger. Co-driven by Frenchman Dominique Serieys, the Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart Pajero/Montero driver managed to stretch his leading margin by 15 seconds on the longest stage of the event so far, at 526km, as the terrain changed from tropical forest to sandy Sahel.

The Dakar 2000 Rally is moving away from the winding baked clay tracks of tropical West Africa and towards the sub-Saharan Desert, with the surviving competitors on the sixth leg, between Ouagadougou and Niamey, blasting their way into the Sahel to reach their first sand dunes on the shores of the River Niger near the end of the leg.

Shinozuka seemed to go from strength to strength, with no problems in his Pajero/Montero, frustrating the efforts of second-placed Jean-Louis Schlesser of France to catch up in his buggy. But it’s still very close, with just 6m15s separating the two. Also from France, Stephane Peterhansel remains in third position in his Mitsubishi-powered Mega Desert "Special".

Shinozuka admitted: "We started slowly - I must have been sleeping - so I woke up and attacked, although it was dusty until we passed Jutta Kleinschmidt and Jean-Pierre Fontenay when they were changing their wheels, then we really got going! It was good to drive this stage. The car was perfect and I had no punctures, which makes me happy!"

French pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard finished the sixth leg in fourth place in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, despite a near miss with a two metre hole and a puncture. But fellow Mitsubishi crew Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan and Andreas Schulz of Germany, dropped down to eighth place in their similar car after slipping into a hole.

Fontenay revealed: "We nearly crashed into a huge hole. I only stopped one metre from it - at least I know the brakes on this car are very good! I shouted at Gilles because I thought he’d made a navigational mistake, but he hadn’t - these big holes, at least five of them... and a river... were not in the road book! We had to reverse out which lost us a lot of time and earlier we had broken a wheel, which we had to change, so we lost a lot of time today".

Masuoka was not as fortunate, as he reported: "We lost maybe 15 minutes in the hole until Prieto pulled us out. I couldn’t see in the dust behind Fontenay’s car and we couldn’t stop in time. The car is OK - it must be very strong!"

Portuguese Carlos Sousa fared better, however, in his Mitsubishi Strakar/L200. He repeated his first stage performance over much different terrain with a dramatic leg victory. From Spain, Miguel Prieto also bounced back again today in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero with another fantastic drive, jumping from 32nd overnight in Burkina Faso to 25th in Niger.

Sousa said: "I kept a very good rhythm and avoided punctures. For me it was the best stage so far and the car was perfect".

Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany and Tina Thorner of Sweden, the top all-girl crew in World Rallying, had been climbing back into contention over the last few days after early delays in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. However, the glamorous duo failed to make any decent progress today by getting a puncture and braking a wheel stud, thus remaining in sixth position.

Kleinschmidt explained: "We were making good time but unfortunately I hit a tree stump which punctured a front tyre. Later, we had to stop and try to fix a wheel stud on the same wheel for five or six minutes. Despite that, it was an enjoyable day - a very nice stage!"

In the T1 category for standard vehicles, Brazilian Klever Kolberg and Frenchman Guino still hold fourth and fifth places respectively in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Monteros.

POSITIONS ON STAGE 6

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER LEG 6