COMMUNIQUE 17 18 January 2001 Bamako - Bakel Liaison 434 km - SS 370 km - Total 804 km

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

Hiroshi Masuoka fought back to retain his lead in the Paris-Dakar between Bamako and Bakel in Senegal today against the odds in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. The Japanese driver, co-driven by Frenchman Pascal Maimon, started behind 28 other vehicles this morning, and his lead was put at risk with the near impossible task of overtaking them on the 370km special stage held over narrow, dusty, twisting tracks in the African Sahel. Not only did Masuoka manage to overtake most of the cars in front of him, he also managed to finish second fastest overall, just 37s behind stage winner Jean-Louis Schlesser’s buggy. The Mitsubishi driver now leads the event by 5m 51s, but it’s going to be a bitter fight to the end with just three days remaining. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart Hiroshi Masuoka Last night, Masuoka was almost ready to admit defeat. And for the first 142 km, it looked as if his mission was impossible. By that point he’s lost nearly 10 minutes to Schlesser, and by the second check point at 234 km, it was even worse - he was over 10 minutes down. But by the third checkpoint Masuoka was fighting back, and had cut Schlesser’s lead by half. Then on the final section, with just 40km to go, Schlesser stopped with a puncture, and Masuoka swept past. But then it was Masuoka’s turn to puncture a tyre just 4 km later! In the end, Masuoka scraped in with his overall lead intact after overtaking 20 cars. An elated but exhausted Masuoka said at Bakel: "At first I was in despair, but then we gave it everything". His co-driver took up the story, adding: "We took 50 km to overtake the first car and at that point I thought it was finished for us. I didn’t even bother to look at the roadbook any more. And then we started to overtake everything in sight. Over the bumpy bits I told Hiroshi to attack harder because that was where we could gain time on the buggy. We punctured a tyre just before the finish, but we changed it super-quick! Thirty-seven seconds! Honestly, I thought we’d lose more. Tomorrow we start behind Jean-Louis and we don’t intend to lose him - we have to control the race. I feel better than yesterday, but I’m still fairly stressed". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Hewlett Packard Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay, a pre-event favourite in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, but now playing a supporting role in sixth place, admitted: "I wouldn’t have bet 10 Francs on this evening’s results! It’s so close it could be won or lost at the Rose Lake in Dakar! For Masuoka, today was the worst possible situation". There was good news too for Germans Jutta Kleinschmidt and Andreas Schulz in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, although Mitsubishi L200 driver Carlos Sousa of Portugal was much less fortunate. Kleinschmidt moved up to third place, but it was at Sousa’s expense, after the Portuguese driver dropped to fifth and out of the running when his car developed gearbox problems early in the morning. Said Kleinschmidt: "I saw Sousa stopped on the special so I knew there was no point in going like a maniac today. I had everything to lose so there was no point in taking any risks. For me the most important thing now is to finish third at Dakar". Just 527km remain of this year’s Dakar, and yet it is still possible for any of three drivers to win - seldom has such close competition been seen in such a long rally. Just over five minutes split Masuoka and Schlesser, and Kleinschmidt is still only half an hour behind, which in Dakar terms is a hair’s breadth. Tomorrow sees the second stage in Senegal, featuring 285 km of competitive driving on narrow tracks through high grass and bushes.

Leg 17 - Bamako - Bakel SS 17 - 370.00 km - Thursday 18 January

Times on SS 17 1 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 3.34.10.0 2 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.34.47.0 +37.0 3 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.36.22.0 +2.12.0 4 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 3.36.49.0 +2.39.0 5 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 3.37.36.0 +3.26.0 6 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 3.47.28.0 +13.18.0 7 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.51.48.0 +17.38.0 8 C.LE DUC R.TORNABELL KIA 3.54.48.0 +20.38.0 9 B.SABY T.DELLI ZOTI FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 3.55.37.0 +21.27.0 10 A.KHROL A.MARZALIOVK MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 3.59.31.0 +25.21.0 11 V.RAKITIANSKY O.PYALIN MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 4.00.01.0 +25.51.0 12 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 4.00.07.0 +25.57.0 13 H.PESCAROLO S.DE LIEDEKERKE NISSAN TERRANO 4.03.13.0 +29.03.0 14 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 4.14.47.0 +40.37.0 16 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 4.17.36.0 +43.26.0 17 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 4.22.01.0 +47.51.0 21 J.P.SIBELLAS G.VIEILLY MITSUBISHI L200 4.29.47.0 +55.37.0 25 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 4.36.30.0 +1.02.20.0 36 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 5.38.11.0 +2.04.01.0

Overall after SS 17 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 64.27.59.0 2 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 64.33.50.0 +5.51.0 3 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 65.00.24.0 +32.25.0 4 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 66.03.25.0 +1.35.26.0 5 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 66.58.22.0 +2.30.23.0 6 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 68.15.42.0 +3.47.43.0 7 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 69.31.27.0 +5.03.28.0 8 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 70.00.12.0 +5.32.13.0 9 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 71.28.20.0 +7.00.21.0 10 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 78.29.37.0 +14.01.38.0 11 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 78.37.13.0 +14.09.14.0 12 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 78.42.42.0 +14.14.43.0 13 B.SABY T.DELLI ZOTI FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 80.30.08.0 +16.02.09.0 15 T.MAGNALDI F.BORSOTTO MERCEDES ML 430 81.45.16.0 +17.17.17.0 16 V.RAKITIANSKY O.PYALIN MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 82.21.01.0 +17.53.02.0 17 J.P.SIBELLAS G.VIEILLY MITSUBISHI L200 82.58.16.0 +18.30.17.0 18 H.PESCAROLO S.DE LIEDEKERKE NISSAN TERRANO 83.49.03.0 +19.21.04.0 20 A.KHROL A.MARZALIOVK MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 86.41.50.0 +22.13.51.0 30 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 102.00.34.0 +37.32.35.0