SPECIAL RELEASE 11 January 2001 Atar - Rest Day

Japanese rally driver Hiroshi Masuoka took a well-earned rest today, January 11, in Atar after taking the lead at the half way point of the 10,000 km Paris-Dakar Rally in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. Co-driven by Pascal Maimon of France, Masuoka snatched the lead during the rally’s most challenging leg yesterday between El Ghallaaouiya and Atar. The scene in the dusty Mauritanian town of Atar couldn’t more different to the cold, rainy start in Paris where this year’s epic began. As the resting drivers and co-drivers sheltered from the scorching sun, mechanics and technicians sweltered in the heat to repair their machines which had survived 6370 km of the world’s most challenging terrain. And still they face another 4455km before the finish in Dakar! Just 88 cars remain. Mitsubishi Service at the bivouac Once the Dakar Rally hit the sand and dunes of the Sahara, the Mitsubishi Pajero/Monteros took control. But earlier in the event, Mitsubishis and buggies were more evenly matched, with the Schlesser buggies having a slight edge on the fast gravel tracks of Morocco with their higher top speed. But before the Dakar even reached Africa, there were threeshort but testing stages in Europe, where it was impossible to tell who would do well once the "real" event got under way. No-one was going to win the rally by doing well in France or Spain, but they sure could lose it! Jose Maria Servia and Jean-Louis Schlesser were fastest at Narbonne in their buggies, with the Mitsubishis in close pursuit, but no-one was pushing hard. At Chateau Lastours, the pace was a little quicker since most of the top crews new the course well, having tested there hundreds of times over the years. Again, the buggies nudged ahead, although Masuoka showed quite a turn of speed in his Pajero/Montero. But it was at Castellon in Spain were things started to go wrong for one of the favourites, Japanese Ace Kenjiro Shinozuka, co-driven by Britain’s Fred Gallagher. The Mitsubishi driver slid wide on the last bend and got stuck in the sand. It wasn’t serious, but unfortunately it was an ominous sign of things to come. Once into Morocco, things got decidedly more serious, and as the weather improved and temperatures rose, the competition became increasingly hot, too. After Castellon, The Mitsubishi driven by Masuoka led the field after sneaking ahead of the buggies in the soft sand, but it wasn’t to last on the fast, sweeping gravel stages in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Schlesser grabbed the lead in his buggy, but a determined Jean-Pierre Fontenay of France was always in hot pursuit in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. This was a good sign - if Fontenay, co-driven by Gilles Picard, could stay close to the buggies in unfavourable conditions, he could easily grab the advantage in the Sahara when the going got really tough and the reliability and superior traction of his four-wheel drive Pajero/Montero would come into its own. In Morocco, punctures were the main hazard. Germans Jutta Kleinschmidt and Andreas Schulz suffered several in their Pajero/Montero, but the kept in close contact with the leaders. Portugal’s Carlos Sousa showed promise in his Mistubishi L200, staying right up in the middle of the top 10. Through the Draa Valley and the challenging Erg Chebbi the rally charged across Morocco towards Mauritania, were everyone believed the real nature of this event would be unvieled. And soon enough it was. Mitsubishi L200 Team Mitsubishi Portugal C. Sousa / J.M. Polato Most of the Moroccan section had been overcast, a bit damp, and rather cold for Africa, but during the last stage before the desert, things began to change. The temperatures rose into the high twenties, and the bumpy, rocky seventh leg produced another fine performance from Masuoka, who stormed up into third place after winning the stage in his Mitsubishi. Fontenay was nicely placed in second, and Servia was looking increasingly worried about the forthcoming dunes in first. Indeed he had already reason to worry. On the seventh leg Fontenay had already passed him during the stage, and would have taken the lead had he not suffered two punctures and a flat battery. Schlesser, meanwhile, had suffered a serious blow to his chances when he first got a puncture and then a one hour penalty for getting a push in a control area when he stalled his buggy. Four Mitsubishis filled four of the the top five places after the first proper desert stage in Mauritania, but still Servia held onto his slender lead, with Fontenay, Masuoka, Sousa and Kleinschmidt close behind. But the Mitsubishis were increasing the pressure, and Servia knew it as the dunes became higher and the sand softer as they neared the end of the longest stage of the event at 619 km. On the following leg, the Mitsubishis struck gold again. This time it was Kleinschmidt who, after recovering from delays on previous legs with punctures and an unsuitable setup, took her seventh Dakar stage victory in her career to climb back up to fourth. The stage was a fast blast across the open desert floor with only four waypoints to guide the competitors, putting a great deal of pressure on navigators. But there was trouble to come. First, it was Fontenay, who, while driving flat out rammed straight into a huge clump of camel grass which stopped his Mitsubishi dead in its tracks, and flipped it onto its side. Sousa stopped to help, and Fontenay only dropped from second to third overall, but worse was to come for the jovial Frenchman. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon Masuoka rose to second after a trouble-free run, and things were still looking good for all the leading Mitsubishi drivers, except one: Shinozuka. The previous day his engine cut out due to an electrical fault. He lost a good deal of time, but with thousands of kilometres to go, all was not totally lost. But after the ninth leg, it was all but over for the 1997 winner. The problem recurred again, and rather than risk getting stuck in the open desert, Shinozuka and Gallagher decided it was best to miss two checkpoints and return to base. They picked up a massive 20 hour penalty, 10 hours for each checkpoint missed, plus another five hours for being late. They were still in the event, but out of the running. On the final leg before half-way, Masuoka finally broke through into the lead with a superb drive on what everyone agreed was the toughest stage so far. It wasn’t the longest, at 435 km, but the sweeping, sandy tracks interspersed with huge, towering dunes and temperatures rising into the mid thirties soon took their toll on all but the toughest competitors and cars. Servia was the biggest to fall, getting stuck for several hours in the sand in his buggy, losing the lead probably for good. Kleinschmidt powered past him too, moving into second place, while Schlesser picked his way back into third, just in front of Carlos Sousa who’d driven carefully to fourth. Almost everyone had tales to tell after the 10th leg, but Masuoka had the happiest. He said: "You could say I had a good last day I’m very happy. Today I’ll just have a nice massage - for me and the car!" Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Germany J. Kleinschmidt Kleinschmidt admitted that she’d had only one bad moment. She reported: "Just one puncture, which wasn’t bad considering what we’d driven over! We didn’t get stuck in the dunes, but it was the hardest special stage of the rally so far". Sousa added: "Our front bumper was smashed at the end of the last stage. But I don’t know how that happened, because I didn’t feel anything while I was driving. The engine got so hot I had to back off now and then, and then we had a puncture 40 km from the finish". For Fontenay, however, it was a bad day. Possibly as a result of his accident the previous day, a suspension nut flew off his car and pitched it into a violent roll at full speed 40 km from the finish. His co-driver Gilles Picard said: "We were perfect until then, but when the nut came off, so did the right front wheel while we were flat out at 150 km/h". It took Fontenay and Picard two hours to get going again, but thankfully they were unhurt and the car was not too badly damaged. They ended the first half of the event in seventh place. The final stage turned the leaderboard on its head, but despite today being a rest day, there were further dramas and changes. The College of the Sporting Stewards decided, after protests from Schlesser, to examine the GPS systems of several cars after claims that some had strayed too far off course during the ninth leg, which was held on the open desert were competitors were apparently free to drive where they liked. Nevertheless, they awarded penalties to those cars, nine in all and including Schlesser, for straying more than 5 km from the prescribed route. Fontenay, Sousa and Schlesser were penalised by 10 minutes, but De Lavergne, Kleinschmidt, De Mevius, Masuoka and Henrard were awarded 30 minutes in penalties. The decision did not affect Masuoka too badly as he remains in the lead, but Kleinschmidt dropped from second to fourth, with Schlesser moving up to second. The decision may not stand as all the competitors can appeal the decision. But tomorrow, the race is on again, and it may get even tougher. Masuoka will lead the field away with his 35 minute advantage, and they will face a 437 km competitive section heading for the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott on the West African coast.