COMMUNIQUE 8 8 January 2001 Smara - El Ghallaouiya Liaison 9 km - SS 619 km - Total 628 km

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

After the first of the long desert stages on this year’s Dakar Rally, four Mitsubishis fill the top five places at El Ghallaouiya Fort in Mauritania despite heat, dust and steep sand dunes. Jose Maria Servia still leads in his buggy, but Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard of France are just 11m 30s behind and looking very comfortable indeed. 100 cars, 27 trucks and 118 motorcycles started from Smara in Morocco this morning, January 8, 2001, to tackle the longest stage in this epic event. The eighth leg covered 628 km, 619 km driven competitively, and as the contestants headed south, the sand became deeper and dunes higher until they reached impressive dunes of the Erg de Maqteir just 2km from the finish at El Ghallaouiya - the final sting-in-the-tail. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon Fontenay was second quickest in his Mitsubishi to hold onto second place. His navigator, Gilles Picard reported: "It was a long way to go today. There were soft dunes near the end, but we had no problems at all". Japanese driver Hiroshi Masuoka, co-driven in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero by Frenchman Pascal Maimon, also had a good run to finish the day in third position overall. He said: "The first 90km were very technical and twisty, but after that it was very fast across the desert. I was careful on the dunes". German lady driver Jutta Kleinschmidt was also pleased with her progress in her Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, navigated by fellow German Andreas Schulz. She finished the leg in fifth position, and commented: "A very good day today. It was very fast, but in the dunes, the sand was quite soft". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz How soft the dunes were was amply demonstrated by buggy driver Jean-Louis Schlesser who became stuck after forgetting to reduce the tyre pressure in his tyres - a time honoured practise for crossing dunes safely. He was, nevertheless, fourth quickest on the leg, and the former rally leader ended the day in sixth overall, behind Kleinschmidt. Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa, co-driven by Jean-Michel Polato, also enjoyed the stage in his Mitsubishi L200 to end the leg in fourth overall. He reported: "We had no problems. I didn’t feel confident enough to go really fast, but there were no problems". Unfortunately, one of the leading Mitsubishi crews did have a problem. Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka, co-driven by Britain’s Fred Gallagher, dropped to 12th overall after losing an hour and a half with an electrical problem, which affected his engine. All Shinozuka could say was: "I’m very disappointed today". After a night of rest under the stars, the surviving competitors face another tough day tomorrow on the ninth leg which loops for 518km from El Ghallaouiya and back. There will be numerous dune crossings on this pure desert stage where navigational expertise will be paramount, as will reliability and good luck, as no assistance vehicles will be permitted on this, the first of the Marathon stages.

Leg 8 - Smara - El Ghallaouiya SS 8 - 619.00 km - Monday 8 January

Times on SS 8 1 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 5.14.27.0 2 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 5.16.25.0 +1.58.0 3 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 5.17.20.0 +2.53.0 4 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 5.19.49.0 +5.22.0 5 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 5.32.18.0 +17.51.0 6 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 STRAKAR 5.36.53.0 +22.26.0 7 B.SABY T.DELLI ZOTI FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 5.54.02.0 +39.35.0 8 G.MARCY J.P.COTTRET TOYOTA 5.55.54.0 +41.27.0 9 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 5.56.55.0 +42.28.0 10 J.F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 6.02.20.0 +47.53.0 11 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 6.03.08.0 +48.41.0 12 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 6.03.29.0 +49.02.0 15 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 6.14.09.0 +59.42.0 18 K.KOLBERG B.CATTARELLI MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 6.21.15.0 +1.06.48.0 25 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 7.07.48.0 +1.53.21.0 28 M.PRIETO A.VELHINHO MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 7.20.49.0 +2.06.22.0

Overall after SS 8 1 J.M.SERVIA J.M.LURQUIN SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 18.06.45.0 2 J.P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 18.18.15.0 +11.30.0 3 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 18.22.44.0 +15.59.0 4 C.SOUSA J.M.POLATO MITSUBISHI L200 STRAKAR 18.51.06.0 +44.21.0 5 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 18.53.21.0 +46.36.0 6 J.L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE SCHLESSER BUGGY RENAULT MEGANE 19.08.07.0 +1.01.22.0 7 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 19.44.11.0 +1.37.26.0 8 B.SABY T.DELLI ZOTI FORD RANGER PROTRUCK 19.49.09.0 +1.42.24.0 9 G.MARCY J.P.COTTRET TOYOTA 20.15.47.0 +2.09.02.0 10 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 20.27.33.0 +2.20.48.0 11 S.HENRARD J.M.MARTINEZ VOLKSWAGEN BUGGY 20.31.25.0 +2.24.40.0 12 K.SHINOZUKA F.GALLAGHER MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 20.33.46.0 +2.27.01.0 13 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN TERRANO 20.49.45.0 +2.43.00.0 14 D.SKILTON M.STEVENSON KIA 20.58.00.0 +2.51.15.0 15 K.KOLBERG B.CATTARELLI MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 21.32.50.0 +3.26.05.0 20 M.PRIETO A.VELHINHO MITSUBISHI PAJERO / MONTERO 22.28.52.0 +4.22.07.0