COMMUNIQUE 3 3 January 2001 Castellon - Almeria Liaison 445 km - SS 5 km - Total 440 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Hewlett-Packard Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / P. Maimon

Although the third and final European Dakar 2001 stage was short at only 5 km, the soft sand on the beach at Castellon, Spain, was enough to transform the leaderboard before the competitors head into Africa. Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka and his French co-driver Pascal Maimon took the lead in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, having the advantage of four-wheel drive while their main buggy rival, Jean-Louis Schlesser got bogged down in the sand with his two-wheel drive vehicle. On the comparatively warm, balmy Spanish beach - a stark contrast to the cold, miserable start in Paris - French pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard won the stage by six seconds in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, just ahead of Masuoka. They now lie third behind Schlesser in second. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon Japanese/British pairing Kenjiro Shinozuka and Fred Gallagher might have expected to do equally well in their similar Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, but they slid wide on the final corner, just metres from the finish, and lost around five minutes while they dug themselves out of the deep, soft sand. Shinozuka reported: "In the last corner I was going too fast and could not turn, and we ran into a sand bank. It was only 20 metres from the finish, but we lost maybe four or five minutes". His co-driver, Fred Gallagher added: "We were in a control zone, so we couldn’t get towed". Rally leader Masuoka enjoyed the soft, sandy stage however, stating with a happy smile: "It was very, very soft sand. Softer than in Mauritania! The sand was very heavy with many sharp turns and very sharp bumps. I was always in first and second gear. Lots of tight turns". The world’s fastest female off-road driver agreed with her fellow Mitsubishi driver, adding: "The sand was really soft, and the jumps! Wow! Really sharp! I had to be careful not to land on the car’s nose". Kleinschmidt finished the day in eighth place after setting seventh fastest. Mitsubishi L200 Team Mitsubishi Portugal C. Sousa / J.M. Polato Towards the back of the field, privateer Klever Kolberg of Brazil had a more difficult time in his Mitsubishi Diesel as the cars running ahead had cut up the track. He reported: "There were a lot of ruts from previous cars, but the car is wonderful. It is very easy to do with this car". Nir Barkat from Israel, another Mitsubishi driver, agreed, but added: "Two times it was difficult when we ran wide, but we were able to get back on course". Tonight, the cars and competitors boarded the ferry to Africa which sails overnight to Morocco and first really challenging leg of the rally through rocky passes and cork forests. The first African leg will be 602 km long from Nador to Er Rachidia, with a 139 km competitive section, and the first of the open air bivouacs tomorrow night.

Leg 3 - Castellon - Almeria SS 3 - 5.00 km - Wednesday 3 January

Times on SS 3 1 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 8.20.0 2 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 8.26.0 +6.0 3 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 8.42.0 +22.0 4 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 8.53.0 +33.0 =5 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 STRAKAR 8.54.0 +34.0 =5 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 8.54.0 +34.0 7 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 8.58.0 +38.0 8 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON SCHLESSER RENAULT KANGOO 9.10.0 +50.0 9 D.SKILTON M.STEVENSON KIA 9.12.0 +52.0 10 M.PRIETO A.VELHINHO MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 9.17.0 +57.0 11 H.PESCAROLO S.DE LIEDEKERKE NISSAN TERRANO 9.18.0 +58.0 12 K.KOLBERG B.CATTARELLI MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 9.20.0 +1.00.0 13 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 9.26.0 +1.06.0 14 G.MARCY J.P.COTTRET TOYOTA 9.27.0 +1.07.0 15 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 9.31.0 +1.11.0 16 P.LARTIGUE P.BOCANDE MERCEDES ML 430 9.32.0 +1.12.0 17 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 9.34.0 +1.14.0 18 M.PLAZA-PEREZ E.GONZALES NISSAN NAVARA 9.37.0 +1.17.0 19 D.HOUSIEAUX M.DOMINELLA NISSAN PATROL GR 9.43.0 +1.23.0 20 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 9.44.0 +1.24.0 21 S.QUANDT P.TIEFENBACH MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 9.46.0 +1.26.0 87 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 15.39.0 +7.19.0

Overall after SS 3 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 42.58.0 2 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 43.44.0 +46.0 3 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 43.58.0 +1.00.0 4 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 44.04.0 +1.06.0 5 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 44.13.0 +1.15.0 6 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 STRAKAR 44.16.0 +1.18.0 7 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 44.29.0 +1.31.0 8 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 44.49.0 +1.51.0 =9 H.PESCAROLO S.DE LIEDEKERKE NISSAN TERRANO 46.01.0 +3.03.0 =9 G.MARCY J.P.COTTRET TOYOTA 46.01.0 +3.03.0 11 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON SCHLESSER RENAULT KANGOO 46.08.0 +3.10.0 12 M.PLAZA-PEREZ E.GONZALES NISSAN NAVARA 46.28.0 +3.30.0 13 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 46.45.0 +3.47.0 14 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 46.55.0 +3.57.0 15 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 46.57.0 +3.59.0 16 P.LARTIGUE P.BOCANDE MERCEDES ML 430 47.38.0 +4.40.0 =17 K.KOLBERG B.CATTARELLI MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 48.07.0 +5.09.0 =17 D.SKILTON M.STEVENSON KIA 48.07.0 +5.09.0 20 D.HOUSIEAUX M.DOMINELLA NISSAN PATROL GR 48.14.0 +5.16.0 37 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 50.39.0 +7.41.0 43 M.PRIETO A.VELHINHO MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 51.55.0 +8.57.0 60 S.QUANDT P.TIEFENBACH MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 54.05.0 +11.07.0