COMMUNIQUE 15 16 January 2001 Tichit - Nema Liaison 0 km - SS 499 km - Total 499 km

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

Japanese driver Hiroshi Masuoka strengthened his grip on the Paris-Dakar Rally today with another stage victory on Leg 15 in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. Masuoka, co-driven by Frenchman Pascal Maimon, powered his way through the 499km competitive section over mixed desert terrain to win by 4m 21s, increasing his lead to 38m20s. Today’s leg, running from Tichit and Nema, was the last of the true desert stages in this year’s Dakar and the last in Mauritania. Tomorrow, the rally hits the African Sahel in Mali, where it will be difficult for Masuoka’s Rivals to make up any time on the narrower tracks. Leg 15 was a tough final desert challenge, however, with a massive variety of terrain combining gravel tracks, deep, soft sand, dunes, vast areas of camel grass and rocky areas. It also included a difficult descent down the Enji Pass. It was also an extremely hot day, with temperatures in the mid-thirties and little wind to cool the cars. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon A relieved Masuoka reached the end of the stage with few problems other than a punctured tyre, and commented: "Today was the last desert stage. It was hard because there was lots of sand, camel grass, and lots of off-road work. I punctured a tyre 50km before the finish, but even though I started fifth on the road today, I won the stage. Now I think there is a real chance we win the Dakar". Germans Jutta Kleinschmidt and Andreas Schulz also enjoyed a good run in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero to take fourth fastest and moved within half a minute of third-placed Mitsubishi L200 driver, Carlos Sousa of Portugal. Said Jutta; "A good special today - long and hard again. We passed Sousa 60km from the finish. I think he had a problem with the rear suspension. Not good for him, but for us it is good because we can maybe get third now". Sousa wasn’t sure what his problem was, but admitted: "Not a good day for us. We broke something on the suspension 200km from the finish. Maybe at the back, I don’t know, but in the ruts it was very difficult to control the car". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Hewlett Packard Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard of France have no chance of victory after earlier delays in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, but are continuing and offering help and support to other Mitsubishi drivers. Driving in sixth place, but three and a half hours down on the leaders, they stopped twice to help Sousa with his suspension. Said Fontenay: "It was a long stage, but the end was nice. The most important thing now is what happens in front of us. At each check point we were asking if Masuoka was OK". Fontenay also stopped twice with punctures. Another of the pre-event favourites, Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan, and his British co-driver Fred Gallagher, are also reduced to a supporting role after picking up 25 hours of penalties. Despite his misfortunes on this year’s event, the former Dakar winner is obviously pleased that his Japanese protégé is doing well, commenting at Nema: "It is very good that Masuoka is leading the rally". Sadly, Brazilian privateer Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero driver Klever Kolberg is out the event after problems on the difficult loop around Tidjikja, thought by many to be the hardest stage of the event two days ago. He revealed: "The front axle broke. We stayed in the dunes for eight hours. We changed some parts on the car on the rest day, but not the front axle. It was a big mistake". Tomorrow’s 16th leg will take the competitors into Mali and towards Bamako, with a long drive overall at 776km, but a relatively short competitive section at 214km. The scene changes from open desert to Sahel, where the competitors will have to find their way along confusing parallel sandy tracks between the bushes and trees. Good navigation will be the key to success from now on.

Leg 15 - Tichit - Nema SS 15 - 499.00 km - Tuesday 16 January

Times on SS 15 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 6.14.34.0 2 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 6.18.55.0 +4.21.0 3 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 6.23.01.0 +8.27.0 4 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 6.28.11.0 +13.37.0 5 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 6.38.05.0 +23.31.0 6 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 6.39.51.0 +25.17.0 7 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 6.43.10.0 +28.36.0 8 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 6.52.41.0 +38.07.0 9 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 7.22.28.0 +1.07.54.0 10 B.SABY T.DELLI ZOTI FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 7.30.38.0 +1.16.04.0 12 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 7.40.27.0 +1.25.53.0 14 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 7.43.14.0 +1.28.40.0 15 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 8.00.36.0 +1.46.02.0 19 J.P.SIBELLAS G.VIEILLY MITSUBISHI L200 8.13.31.0 +1.58.57.0 20 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 8.23.54.0 +2.09.20.0 22 T.MAGNALDI F.BORSOTTO MERCEDES ML 430 8.27.25.0 +2.12.51.0

Overall after SS 15 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 57.49.22.0 2 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 58.27.42.0 +38.20.0 3 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 58.53.58.0 +1.04.36.0 4 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 58.54.24.0 +1.05.02.0 5 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 59.54.50.0 +2.05.28.0 6 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 61.27.21.0 +3.37.59.0 7 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 62.56.57.0 +5.07.35.0 8 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 63.49.01.0 +5.59.39.0 9 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 65.01.15.0 +7.11.53.0 10 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 71.12.35.0 +13.23.13.0 11 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 71.18.27.0 +13.29.05.0 12 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 71.35.53.0 +13.46.31.0 13 B.SABY T.DELLI ZOTI FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 73.36.37.0 +15.47.15.0 15 T.MAGNALDI F.BORSOTTO MERCEDES ML 430 74.26.49.0 +16.37.27.0 17 J.P.SIBELLAS G.VIEILLY MITSUBISHI L200 75.38.47.0 +17.49.25.0 32 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 93.25.43.0 +35.36.21.0