World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies

1.Nov.2001

Rd.9 UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge 2001
FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies

[SS2]

KLEINSCHMIDT STAYS IN CONTENTION
FOR FIA CROSS-COUNTRY WORLD TITLE

Desert Challenge again delayed by dense fog;
Temperature tops 55 degrees C in the sun

Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero
Jutta Kleinschmidt / Andreas Schultz
(31.Oct.2001)

Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt started this morning's delayed second section of the UAE Marlboro Desert Challenge, the final round of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, in second place and maintained her position through the shortened 364 kms stage across the Eastern region of the Rub Al-Khali in the Southern UAE.

Trailing the defending World Champion Jean-Louis Schlesser by a little over 12 minutes at the start of the special, a four-hour delay because of dense fog did not help the Mitsubishi Ralliart driver's cause as she tackled the stage in temperatures topping 55 degrees.

The organisers eventually decided to shorten the special by 140 kms and with it disappeared Kleinschmidt chance to gain time on Schlesser through the daunting dunes near Liwa.

"It was another long day today," said Jutta. "We had planned to leave early this morning and the stage was around 500 kms. But it was very foggy again and we heard the decision to delay the start by four hours. We were all in the hotel and managed to have a breakfast and my physio was able to relax me with a little shoulder massage in the hotel lobby. It eased the tension a little."

But Kleinschmidt could not match Schlesser through the section and dropped a further 2m 14s to her great rival, who now has an advantage of 14m 14s with two stages to go.

"The stage was a little too fast for us today, especially after the third passage control and we could not catch Schlesser," added Jutta.

As a result of the second successive fog delay, race director Kevin Monaghan shortened the section by around 30% with the stage finish control moved to the original fifth passage control post. "We have always been in the lap of the gods with the weather," he confessed. "It was hard on the riders, because the stage took place in the heat of the mid-day sun."

The event is scheduled to finish on Friday afternoon at the Al Ghantoot Polo Club, near Dubai.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION AFTER SS2

	DRIVER / CO-DRIVER	CAR	NAT.	TIME	DIFF
1	J.L.Schlesser/H.Magne	Schlesser Buggy Renault Megane	F	7.44.14
2	J.Kleinschmidt/A.Schultz	Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero	D	7.58.54	14.40
3	Y.Al.Helei	Chevrolet Tahoe	UAE	10.02.40	2.18.26
4	J.P.Strugo/Y.Ferri	Mercedes ML 430	F	10.05.51	2.21.37
5	T.Mitri/Osman	Land Rover110	LB	10:42:39	2.58.21

Nationalities:
AUS=Australia / D=Germany / F=France / RU=Burundi / RUS=Russia / UAE=United Arab Emirates

PRE-EVENT Release | Prologue stage | ss1 | ss2 | ss3 | ss4

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