COMMUNIQUE 14 15 January 2001 Tidjikja - Tichit Liaison 4 km - SS 230 km - Total 234 km

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

Japanese Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero driver Hiroshi Masuoka survived a last ditch attempt by buggy driver Jean-Louis Schlesser to snatch his lead, remaining in front by a total of 33m 59s on the short 230 km special stage between Tidjikja and Tichit on Leg 14 of the Dakar Rally in Mauritania. Despite the short and relatively easy nature of today’s leg in the Sahara Desert, Schlesser chose the moment to make a charge, but it was in vain. The weather conditions were good, although temperatures rose again today into the 30s and a strong wind was whipping up a sand storm again by the time they reached Tichit - a town that is slowly being engulfed by moving sand dunes. Masuoka, co-driven by Frenchman Pascal Maimon, was delayed by a puncture, further increasing the threat from Schlesser, but by the end of the leg he was still comfortable. He reported: "Today I had one puncture and Schlesser got past me. Afterwards I just drove at normal speed and only lost three minutes. Otherwise an easy day". Mitsubishi L200 Team Mitsubishi Portugal C. Sousa / J.M. Polato Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa, driving a Mitsubishi L200, was also on a charge however, in an attempt to catch Schlesser and move up into second place. He was second fastest, but only by 24s to Schlesser, and therefore remains in third position. He admitted: "I tried to win the stage today. In the middle, I saw Schlesser and thought I could catch him. But over the last 40 km there were too many jumps. I don’t like jumps". Germans Jutta Kleinschmidt and Andreas Schulz ended the leg where they started, in fourth position overall in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. The world’s fastest female off-road driver commented: "A nice short special today, and the best bit is a free afternoon! We have a good start position for tomorrow - the last true desert stage". French pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard - two of the pre-event favourites in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero - have lost all hope of victory after a series of accidents and problems in the desert earlier in the event, but are still enjoying the rally further down the field. Said Fontenay: "We started ninth today but soon caught up with the buggy of Servia. An easy day, no problems". Perhaps relieved after too much excitement earlier in the event when they rolled their car twice, Fontenay’s co-driver Picard added: "Nothing happened today - nothing". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan, another pre-event favourite in a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, but out of contention for victory with 25 hours of penalties is also still going strong, albeit well down the rankings. He reported: "Today was a short day and the navigation was not difficult. Just steady driving today. No problems". As Kleinschmidt pointed out, tomorrow sees the last of the true desert stages in this year’s Dakar. At 499km the stage between Tichit and Nema will be far from easy, with the difficult "Mountain of Elephants" section which stretches out like a vast sea of dunes, and the Enji Pass to traverse. After today’s relatively easy stage, tomorrow may be a shock to the system with a wide variety of challenges on the menu once again, from rocky, potholed tracks to steep dunes and abundant camel grass.

Leg 14 - Tidjikja - Tichit SS 14 - 230.00 km - Monday 15 January

Times on SS 14 1 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 3.02.11.0 2 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 3.02.35.0 +24.0 3 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.03.23.0 +1.12.0 4 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 3.05.32.0 +3.21.0 5 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.05.37.0 +3.26.0 6 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.07.48.0 +5.37.0 7 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.11.41.0 +9.30.0 8 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 3.16.49.0 +14.38.0 9 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 3.19.06.0 +16.55.0 10 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 3.21.30.0 +19.19.0 11 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 3.39.17.0 +37.06.0 12 H.PESCAROLO S.DE LIEDEKERKE NISSAN TERRANO 3.41.18.0 +39.07.0 13 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 3.41.21.0 +39.10.0 14 J.P.SIBELLAS G.VIEILLY MITSUBISHI L200 3.43.38.0 +41.27.0 18 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 3.56.08.0 +53.57.0

Overall after SS 14 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 51.34.48.0 2 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 52.08.47.0 +33.59.0 3 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 52.14.07.0 +39.19.0 4 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 52.26.13.0 +51.25.0 5 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 53.31.49.0 +1.57.01.0 6 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 54.49.16.0 +3.14.28.0 7 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 55.34.29.0 +3.59.41.0 8 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 56.05.47.0 +4.30.59.0 9 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 58.08.34.0 +6.33.46.0 10 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 62.48.41.0 +11.13.53.0 11 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 63.17.51.0 +11.43.03.0 12 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 63.55.26.0 +12.20.38.0 13 H.PESCAROLO S.DE LIEDEKERKE NISSAN TERRANO 65.52.37.0 +14.17.49.0 14 J.P.SIBELLAS G.VIEILLY MITSUBISHI L200 67.25.16.0 +15.50.28.0 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 86.42.33.0 +35.07.45.0