COMMUNIQUE 16 9 January 2002 Tidjikja - Tichit Liaison 18 km - SS 520 km - Total 538 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard (9 January 2002)

Japanese ace Hiroshi Masuoka increased his lead on the 520 km stage between Tidjikja and Tichit in Mauritania today driving his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, but the battle between the three leading Mitsubishis still rages on. Without team orders, German lady Jutta Kleinschmidt, who climbed from third to second today, and Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan, both driving similar Pajeros/Monteros, are cleared to attack the rally leader. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz (9 January 2002) Jean-Pierre Fontenay, currently around an hour behind the leaders in fourth, may be out of the running for victory, but enjoyed a fine stage win today over the dusty desert stage from Tidjikja to the desolate Saharan village of Tichit. Surrounded by spectacularly high, encroaching dunes, the former staging post for salt traders provided a good example of the terrain the surviving competitors had to cross today, with hundreds of high sand dunes interspersed with rocky tracks and fast desert plains. Shinozuka dropped from second to third after getting stuck for 15 minutes while descending one of the higher dunes. Both Masuoka and Kleinschmidt suffered punctures, as did Fontenay, but all four were too far of the rest of the pack for the delays to make much of an impact. Masuoka’s lead has now grown to over 25 minutes, and while not unassailable, his winning margin is certainly comfortable. Shinozuka, who had harboured hopes of taking the lead before the rally leaves the desert, was the most disappointed of the Mitsubishi drivers today, reporting: "Bad day today. Many jumps and we ran slowly. Masuoka had a flat tyre and we passed and then Fontenay had a flat tyre. We slowed and Jutta went passed. Then I arrived on this sand dune and Hiro had stopped and Jutta stopped. I thought I could go left, but it was a long, long way down and we got stuck for 10 to 15 minutes". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon (9 January 2002) Kleinschimdt’s optimism increased again after gaining second from Shinozuka. She said: "It was a much better stage than yesterday, the camel grass was not too bad. We all had a flat tyre except for Shino, but he was lucky. Hiro and I stopped at the top of this great sand dune to see if we could pass, and Shino tried to go left. It was a very long way down... it was not the best parking space he could have chosen and he was stuck. Three days to go, I know we cannot catch Hiro, but this is the Dakar, you never know!" And even though he has little chance of winning, Fontenay appeared happiest of all with his first stage win of this year’s event, commenting: "’Nice stage, quite fast and great for me to win the stage. I was beginning to think that I would not win a stage. We had a puncture, so did the others, but we took the win". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart K. Shinozuka / T. Delli-Zotti (9 January 2002) Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa remains in fifth place in his Mitsubishi L200, while Qatar’s Saeed Al-Hajri makes it a Mitsubishi clean sweep of the top six places in his similar L200. Sadly, the organisers had to report the death of a Dakar competitor today. Daniel Vergnes, crew member of a Toyota competitive support vehicle died when the vehicle left the road for unknown reasons near Aleg en route to Tidjikja. Three other team members were injured, but their conditions are not thought to be life-threatening. The three survivors are currently in hospital in the Mauritanian capital Noaukchott awaiting an airlift to Dakar and then Paris. Tomorrow the rally resumes with the last of the "pure" desert stages, comprising a 450 km loop section out into the open desert north of Tichit. The rally is almost all "off-piste" with high dunes and difficult navigation.

Times on SS 11 1 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.32.44.0   2 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.34.23.0 +1.39.0 3 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.39.23.0 +6.39.0 4 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.50.52.0 +18.08.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 7.01.30.0 +28.46.0 6 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 7.14.20.0 +41.36.0 7 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 7.55.25.0 +1.22.41.0 8 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.24.09.0 +1.51.25.0 9 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.25.47.0 +1.53.03.0 10 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.27.59.0 +1.55.15.0 11 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.40.52.0 +2.08.08.0 12 J-P.STRUGO B.CATTARELLI MERCEDES ML 430 8.52.46.0 +2.20.02.0 13 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 8.52.47.0 +2.20.03.0 14 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 8.56.21.0 +2.23.37.0 15 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 9.07.11.0 +2.34.27.0 16 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 9.07.39.0 +2.34.55.0 17 J.BOURGIN P. DE WEINDEL NISSAN TERRANO 9.46.54.0 +3.14.10.0 18 X.FOJ E.VILA TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 9.52.57.0 +3.20.13.0 19 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 10.01.17.0 +3.28.33.0

Overall after SS 11 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 31.10.41.0   2 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 31.36.38.0 +25.57.0 3 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 31.39.59.0 +29.18.0 4 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 32.22.52.0 +1.12.11.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 35.01.02.0 +3.50.21.0 6 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 37.11.34.0 +6.00.53.0 7 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 38.16.52.0 +7.06.11.0 8 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 38.51.58.0 +7.41.17.0 9 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 39.34.09.0 +8.23.28.0 10 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 40.45.36.0 +9.34.55.0 11 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 42.45.24.0 +11.34.43.0 12 J-P.STRUGO B.CATTARELLI MERCEDES ML 430 42.47.32.0 +11.36.51.0 13 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 42.49.11.0 +11.38.30.0 14 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 45.13.26.0 +14.02.45.0 15 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 47.14.12.0 +16.03.31.0 16 J.BOURGIN P. DE WEINDEL NISSAN TERRANO 48.11.25.0 +17.00.44.0 17 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 49.31.57.0 +18.21.16.0 18 X.FOJ E.VILA TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 54.41.29.0 +23.30.48.0 - G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 61.43.00.0 +30.32.19.0