German rally driver Jutta Kleinschmidt made motor sport history in Africa on Sunday, January 22,2001 by becoming the first woman ever to win the gruelling Paris-Dakar Rally, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. She was co-driven by fellow German Andreas Schulz.

A consistent performance throughout the 10,000km epic through Africa brought its rewards for Kleinschmidt after the final leg when she moved into the lead for the first time. It had been one of the most hotly contested Dakar’s ever, and her winning margin was just 2m39s after some of the toughest competitive driving over 20 days through Europe and North Africa crossing six borders with 6,180km of special stages.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz

Said a delighted Kleinschmidt at the finish in Dakar: "It is fantastic, incredible - I can hardly believe it. I slept very badly last night, my stomach was in knots and I was worried about throwing it all away. I’m a little sad for Hiroshi but I took my chance. To be the first woman to win the Dakar is not the most important thing for me. Above all I am a driver. Mitsubishi gave no team orders this morning - we had carte blanche".

For Mitsubishi it was an especially successful weekend. In addition to Kleinschmidt winning the Dakar in her Pajero/Montero, Tommi Makinen of Finland also clinched a spectacular victory on the first round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Monte Carlo Rally, driving his Mitsubishi Lancer. And back on the Dakar, Japanese ace Hiroshi Masuoka and his French co-driver Pascal Maimon finished second to Kleinschmidt in their similar Pajero/Montero to make it a Mitsubishi 1-2. Masuoka lost the lead of the Dakar in the dying moment of the event, after leading for 9 of the 20 legs.

Although disappointed, Masuoka was philosophical. His navigator Pascal Maimon revealed: "We have been in the lead since Atar and always thought the victory was ours despite the problems over the last few days. We raced sportingly for 3 weeks alongside Jean-Louis Schlesser. But this morning however we no longer believed in our chances. Jutta was the most regular driver and she took advantage of that fact. If we’d had 150 km today maybe we could have caught up but as it was it was too short. The disappointment of being second is compensated by seeing Jutta win".

The celebrations in the hot sunshine of the Senegalese capital Dakar could have been more different than the wet, miserable start 20 days earlier in Paris. But despite the inclement weather, the air tingled with excitement and expectation, with one of the strongest and most competitive entry lists ever seen in the car section.

Experts were predicting the strong possibility of a Mitsubishi win. Favourites were Japanese drivers Masuoka and Kenjiro Shinozuka, co-driven by British navigator Fred Gallagher. Both were in Pajero/Monteros. Another hot favourite was Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay in another Pajero/Montero, co-driven by fellow countryman Gilles Picard. Plus there was Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa, who in recent years has been making quite a name for himself in his Mitsubishi L200.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany Jutta Kleinschmidt

The first three stages in Europe were supposed to be mere "warm ups" for the long African stages that lay ahead. No-one was going to win the Dakar by doing well in Europe, but one mistake could prove a huge setback. For the most part, the top drivers avoided trouble, except for Shinozuka, who on the last bend of the beach stage at Castellon in Spain, slid wide and got stuck in soft sand for seven minutes. But before the Dakar reached the tough stages of Africa, a Mitsubishi was already in the lead, driven by Masuoka.

Once into Africa, however, the real competition began. All the Mitsubishi drivers knew that the opening stages in Morocco would favour the prototype buggies because of the high-speed nature of the tracks. The strategy was just to stay in contact and wait until they reached the soft Saharan sand of Mauritania, where the four-wheel drive Mitsubishis would have the upper hand.

Initially, it was Jean-Louis Schlesser who grabbed the lead in his buggy. But Fontenay was just behind in his Pajero/Montero, sandwiched by Schlesser’s team mate, Jose Maria Servia in a second buggy. It was clear even then at the overnight halt at Er Rachidia that this was going to be a hard-fought race.

Over the next few stages in Morocco, the rally went in the buggies’ favour. The fast gravel tracks demanded little in the way of traction or handling, and the lighter weight of the buggies gave them a higher top speed. By Goulimine, at the end of the sixth stage, Schlesser had stretched his lead to only 12 minutes, Servia had moved into second, while Fontenay spent his time avoiding punctures and problems in third position.

While all this was going on up front, Shinozuka was making his way steadily back up the field to join the attacks after his misfortune in Spain. Kleinschmidt picked up a couple of time-consuming punctures, while at the same time she was working hard to get her suspension settings correctly adjusted for her driving style. Sousa was in impressive form, while Spain’s Miguel Prieto kept getting stuck behind a Kamaz truck, which he couldn’t pass in the thick dust kicked up by the machine’s big wheels.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz

By the time the rally reached the end of the Moroccan stages at Smara, it was all change again. Servia now led from Fontenay, while Masuoka had positioned himself nicely in third place after winning the seventh stage. Schlesser lost the lead when he received illegal outside assistance in a control zone during the stage and was penalised by the organisers.

Between Smara and El Ghallaouyia, the competitors hit the first of the dunes, but the stage was still mostly fast, and Servia remained in front. Masuoka was driving superbly, but a cautious Fontenay remained in second.

The following stage, covering 518km from El Ghallaouyia and back, was the epitome of Dakar desert rallying. Racing across the open desert floor, the navigators were free to make their own routes with no tracks to follow, and with huge dunes and plenty of soft sand, this was Mitsubishi country. Now with her suspension set up the way she liked it, Kleinschmidt stormed to her first stage win of the rally. That result put her up to fourth overall.

At the end of the leg, Fontenay was still second and Masuoka third, but things were not looking good for Fontenay, even though he had still held his position behind Servia. The Mitsubishi driver had been blasting hard through the desert when he hit a mound of camel grass very hard. The car was stopped dead in its tracks, and tipped onto its side. Fontenay soon got going again, but the time loss was significant.

Shinozuka, too had problems. A long delay the previous day due to electrical problems recurred. This time, Shinozuka and Gallagher decided to break for home, without completing the course, for repairs. They missed two check points in the process and struggled into El Ghallaouyia late, picking up 25 hours worth of penalties. They were still in the rally, but out of the running.

But on what was arguably the most difficult stage of the rally, the long 435 km run from El Ghallaouyia to Atar in Mauritania, and the last leg before the half-way rest day, Masuoka pulled himself up into the lead with an astonishing performance in his Pajero/Montero. He achieved the feat despite picking up a puncture 100 km before the finish. Sousa moved up into third place, but any chance for victory for Fontenay was now gone. After the previous day’s accident, he had damaged his front suspension and a wheel nut flew off, together with the wheel, launching the car into a roll. Again, Fontenay dusted himself off and got going again, but this time the time loss was more serious.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz Mitsubishi L200 (left) C. Sousa / J.-M. Polato

Masuoka was calm and comfortable in Atar on his rest day. The desert had allowed him to use his Mitsubishi’s superior traction and handling to the full, but while victory was possibly within reach, nearly half the event was still left to run and it was by no means assured. He would have to reach Mali in first place to be reasonably confident of victory, and even then, nothing would be certain until he crossed the finish line in Dakar. And Schlesser was powering his way back up the field, as determined as ever.

On restarting from Atar, Schlesser was in second, but by the end of the Atar to Nouakchott leg, which was supposed to be easy, Mitsubishis filled the top spots with Masuoka still in the lead, despite getting briefly lost in the dunes, Kleinschmidt second and Sousa up into third. Schlesser had lost time when he too got lost in the same place as Masuoka, but while the Mitsubishi was able just to drive over the dunes, Schlesser in his buggy was forced to drive around them losing even more time.

The tough 12th stage also caused havoc. Sousa moved into second behind Masuoka with Kleinschmidt third, but the strong wind, sand storms and deep, soft sand had caused delays for many drivers. Even Masuoka got stuck twice. Schlesser was on a charge, however, and made up a great deal of time.

The 513km Tidjikja loop was billed as "the" stage of the rally, tough, arduous and very long, but no-one told Masuoka who won the leg by nearly 20 minutes. It reinforced his lead, but Schlesser was looking strong in second. Kleinschmidt dropped back after running the wrong tyre pressures, while Sousa was doing well in third.

Little had changed at the remote desert outpost of Tichit. Masuoka’s lead had been cut by three minutes after he had a puncture, but his lead was looking increasingly secure. But as the rest of the desert section wore on, it was clear that the race now was between Masuoka and Schlesser, as the rest cautiously fell behind as the leading pair attacked each other.

As the rally moved out of the desert and onto the narrow tracks of Mali, Masuoka should have been secure. The tight tracks meant that Schlesser could not overtake, and therefore could not make up time; but then disaster struck. On the 16th leg between Nema and Bamako, Masuoka’s rear suspension broke. He lost 25 minutes. Although he remained in the lead by just a handful of minutes, Masuoka looked defeated. Because of his slow time, he would have to start the following leg to Bakel behind over twenty other cars. Overtaking them would be almost impossible, and Schlesser would therefore be free to make up time and push into the lead. Once there, only luck could intervene.

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon

But Masuoka refused to give up. For the first 150km his hopes started to fade and he failed to overtake a single car. But encouraged by his navigator Pascal Maimon, Masuoka pressed on and kept trying. Soon, the cars started to fall to Masuoka’s Mitsubishi. And over the harsh, bumpy tracks, he started to make up time again. Amazingly, against the odds, at Bakel Masuoka was still in the lead, but only by the narrowest of margins. At Tambacounda, with just one "real" stage left, Masuoka’s lead was just 7m28s. Small though it was, he was still almost assured of victory. Starting first on the road, and with just 217km of tracks through the Senegalese Savannah remaining, there would be no way for Schlesser to make up even that small amount of time…unless something strange happened…and it did.

Sitting at the start line waiting for the stage start, Masuoka was amazed to see the buggies driven by Schlesser and Servia squeeze past to start the stage in front of him. Onlookers and officials gasped at the manoeuver. Angry, Masuoka charged off in hot pursuit on his due starting time, but with the buggies in front, he was at a severe disadvantage. And then, while struggling to get past one of the buggies, Masuoka was forced to charge off into the bush. He got by, but he’d damaged his car in the process. Incredibly, he’d snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The one hour delay repairing his car had dropped him to third. Schlesser was leading, and Kleinschmidt was second. It seemed that Schlesser had won, with only the final, 25km stage to go.

But the organisers of the rally pointed out that the rules had been broken when Schlesser and Servia had started the stage early. Suddenly, on a warm, sultry evening in Dakar, with not an engine sound in earshot, the lead changed again! Schlesser was penalised for one hour (as was Servia). Kleinschmidt was in the lead and Masuoka second.

The final leg, just 25km along the beach and around Dakar’s famous Pink Lake, could have given Masuoka the opportunity to win, but with no team rules, there wasn’t enough time to make up the two and a half minutes and Kleinschmidt rolled onto the podium the victor - the first woman ever to win the Dakar.

It had been a history-making event. The slimmest of winning margins, with four different rally leaders and seven lead changes led to an incredibly exciting event, fought long and hard over 10,000 km in Europe and Africa. And in the end, driving a Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero, German girl Jutta Kleinschmidt realised her dream: the first woman ever to win the Dakar!