COMMUNIQUE 4 4 January 2001 Nador - Er Rachidia Liaison 463 km - SS 139 km - Total 602 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Hewlett Packard Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard

French crew Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard grabbed second place on the first African leg of the Dakar 2001 Rally today, January 4, driving their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. They were only beaten by one other car on the fast, 139 km stage through northern Morocco, driven by Jean-Louis Schlesser, who took advantage of the high top speed of his buggy. Overnight Dakar Rally leaders Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan and Pascal Maimon of France were troubled by punctures in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. They suffered two left-rear tyre punctures which dropped them to seventh overall. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz After a twisty start through sand and vegetation, the competitive section between Nador and Er Rachidia soon opened up into a high speed gravel track which suited the two-wheel drive buggies better. However, Fontenay lost only 3m 40s to Schlesser, much less than expected on such a fast section. The course followed a route over the rocky Biguil Plateau in the Moyen Atlas. German lady driver Jutta Kleinschmidt, co-driven by fellow German Andreas Schulz, ended the fourth leg in sixth place after setting fifth fastest in her Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. Fellow Mitsubishi driver Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan and his British co-driver Fred Gallagher were seventh fastest on the relatively short stage and are now 13th overall at Er Rachidia after losing a great deal of time in Spain when they got stuck in the sand at Castellon. Mitsubishi L200 Team Mitsubishi Portugal C. Sousa / J.M. Polato The second fastest of the Mitsubishis is the T3 L200 driven by Portugal’s Carlos Sousa and co-driven by Jean-Michel Polato. Today they powered their way into fifth position overall after four days of competition. Today’s stage was seen by many as merely a warm-up for what is to come. Tomorrow the surviving competitors face a much longer competitive section at 333 km in a route covering 572 km from Er Rachidia to Ouarzazate. This leg features the crossing of the Erg Chebbi dunes - the first of the desert sand sections - before heading through the Draa Valley, one of the most scenic regions in Morocco.

Leg 4 - Nador - Er Rachidia SS 4 - 139.00 km - Thursday 4 January

Times on SS 4 1 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 1.12.12.0 2 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.15.52.0 +3.40.0 3 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 1.19.06.0 +6.54.0 4 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 1.20.22.0 +8.10.0 5 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.20.38.0 +8.26.0 6 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 STRAKAR 1.20.48.0 +8.36.0 7 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.22.35.0 +10.23.0 8 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.23.13.0 +11.01.0 9 G.MARCY J.P.COTTRET TOYOTA 1.23.51.0 +11.39.0 10 P.WAMBERGUE P.REY FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 1.24.50.0 +12.38.0 11 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON SCHLESSER RENAULT KANGOO 1.25.03.0 +12.51.0 12 K.KOLBERG B.CATTARELLI MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.25.22.0 +13.10.0 13 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.25.29.0 +13.17.0 14 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 1.25.54.0 +13.42.0 15 M.PRIETO A.VELHINHO MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.26.43.0 +14.31.0 16 M.PLAZA-PEREZ E.GONZALES NISSAN NAVARA 1.26.44.0 +14.32.0 17 P.LARTIGUE P.BOCANDE MERCEDES ML 430 1.27.27.0 +15.15.0 18 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 1.27.53.0 +15.41.0

Overall after SS 4 1 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 1.55.56.0 2 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 1.59.50.0 +3.54.0 3 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 2.03.10.0 +7.14.0 4 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 2.04.51.0 +8.55.0 5 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 STRAKAR 2.05.04.0 +9.08.0 6 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 2.05.27.0 +9.31.0 7 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 2.06.11.0 +10.15.0 8 G.MARCY J.P.COTTRET TOYOTA 2.09.52.0 +13.56.0 9 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON SCHLESSER RENAULT KANGOO 2.11.11.0 +15.15.0 10 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 2.12.14.0 +16.18.0 11 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 2.12.49.0 +16.53.0 12 M.PLAZA-PEREZ E.GONZALES NISSAN NAVARA 2.13.12.0 +17.16.0 13 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 2.13.14.0 +17.18.0 14 K.KOLBERG B.CATTARELLI MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 2.13.29.0 +17.33.0 15 S.PETERHANSEL W.ALCARAZ NISSAN TERRANO 2.14.50.0 +18.54.0 16 P.LARTIGUE P.BOCANDE MERCEDES ML 430 2.15.05.0 +19.09.0 17 M.PRIETO A.VELHINHO MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 2.18.38.0 +22.42.0 43 P.WAMBERGUE P.REY FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 2.32.43.0 +36.47.0