COMMUNIQUE 17 10 January 2002 Tichit - Tichit SS 450 km - Total 450 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon (10 January 2002)

Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero driver Hiroshi Masuoka looks more certain than ever to win the Dakar this year after he opened up an impressive 52 lead over his rivals with a sparkling performance on the all-desert stage today that looped around the Saharan village of Tichit in Mauritania. With just three days remaining as the rally moves out of the desert and into the African Savanna , it looks like the Japanese driver may finally put last year’s ghosts to rest. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart K. Shinozuka / T. Delli-Zotti (10 January 2002) But the rally is not yet over, and while Masuoka’s lead is big by Dakar standards, he was in almost the same position last year when defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory after unscrupulous rivals conspired against him just two stages from the finish. There is unlikely to be a repeat of last year’s foul play as all of Masuoka’s rivals in the top five are team mates, driving Mitsubishis. Fellow Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka is back up into second place in his Pajero/Montero, while German lady Jutta Kleinschmidt is back to third in her similar car. It was a day of high drama however. Masuoka was fortunate to win the stage after a light accidental collision 50km from the end of the leg with fourth-placed Jean-Pierre Fontenay’s Mitsubishi. Both Shinozuka and Kleinschmidt had a variety of problems – both suffered flat tyres and mechanical problems. Shinozuka broke a ball joint in his rear suspension and had to stop and repair it. Kleinschmidt also had to stop for repairs when her transmission broke and she had only two-wheel drive. Luckily she was carrying spares, because she reckoned it would have been impossible to carry on with only two wheel drive. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz (10 January 2002) It was by far the toughest stage of the event. Not only did thousands of rock-hard clumps of camel grass threaten to shake the cars to pieces, but a violent desert storm struck the area overnight. Rain and high winds tore the bivouac to shreds during the night, and the bleary-eyed competitors were forced to drive today’s stage after a restless night with limited visibility in the unrelenting storm. Said Masuoka: "It was a very difficult stage today. The car is tired and I am tired. The camel grass, oh, it was so hard. Jutta is stuck in the dunes, Shino had a problem and we had a small collision with Jean-Pierre. It was not a case of going fast, just to survive was important. Now I must be very careful tomorrow". Fontenay added; "'About 50 kms from the end of the stage we were on a descent and I was alongside Hiro. He started to slide down the sand and we came together gently, it was so slippery. No problem. But the camel grass today was very tough. It was a hard stage, seemed to go on forever". Kleinschmidt suffered the worst luck, and revealed: "It was all camel grass today and it was very difficult to see the PCs. We had a puncture and then we broke the transmission. There was no way that we could pass through the soft sand in two-wheel drive, so we stopped to fix the car. After the problems a few days ago we decided to carry a spare in the car and it was a good idea, but it cost 40 minutes today. I think if we didn't have the spares, we would have spent the night in the desert. It's frustrating, because we could have taken time from Hiroshi". Mitsubishi L 200 Team Mitsubishi Galp TMN Chesterfield C. Sousa / V. Jesus (10 January 2002) A very tired second-placed Shinozuka said: "'For 400 kms today it was very bumpy, all camel grass. At low speed it is bad for my discs and the bones in my neck. I had two punctures and then we broke a ball joint in the rear suspension and had to repair it. That was the end of my chance to catch Hiro. Now we must reach the finish". Mitsubishis have now very much established total dominance now of the Dakar. Ten of the top 11 cars are all Mitsubishis, with just Thierry de Lavergne's 10th placed Production Terrano standing in the way of a clean sweep of the top 10 for the Mitsubishis. The situation for the surviving competitors is unlikely to get any easier tomorrow after today’s epic stage. The route Tichit to Kiffa represents the first part of the second big marathon stage, where no outside assistance will be allowed. It’s the start of the "sting-in-the-tail" for the 2002 Dakar!

Times on SS 12 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.37.10.0   2 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.41.51.0 +4.41.0 3 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.00.01.0 +22.51.0 4 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.03.35.0 +26.25.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 7.18.00.0 +40.50.0 6 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 7.22.31.0 +45.21.0 7 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 7.27.37.0 +50.27.0 8 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.26.08.0 +1.48.58.0 9 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.30.02.0 +1.52.52.0 10 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.33.42.0 +1.56.32.0 11 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 8.50.17.0 +2.13.07.0 12 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 8.52.39.0 +2.15.29.0 13 J-A.VILLALBA J-M.GARCIA MERCEDES ML 430 8.59.11.0 +2.22.01.0 14 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 9.00.41.0 +2.23.31.0 15 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 9.10.35.0 +2.33.25.0 16 T.ASAGA D.ARAKAWA TOYOTA 9.13.28.0 +2.36.18.0 17 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 9.15.54.0 +2.38.44.0 18 K.WAUTERS J.DAMEN TOYOTA HDJ 100 9.16.56.0 +2.39.46.0 20 J-P.STRUGO B.CATTARELLI MERCEDES ML 430 9.18.14.0 +2.41.04.0 21 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 9.27.47.0 +2.50.37.0

Overall after SS 12 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 37.47.51.0   2 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 38.40.00.0 +52.09.0 3 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 38.40.13.0 +52.22.0 4 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 39.04.43.0 +1.16.52.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 42.19.02.0 +4.31.11.0 6 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 44.39.11.0 +6.51.20.0 7 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 46.43.00.0 +8.55.09.0 8 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 48.04.11.0 +10.16.20.0 9 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 50.13.23.0 +12.25.32.0 10 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 51.19.06.0 +13.31.15.0 11 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 51.39.28.0 +13.51.37.0 12 J-P.STRUGO B.CATTARELLI MERCEDES ML 430 52.05.46.0 +14.17.55.0 13 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 54.24.01.0 +16.36.10.0 14 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 56.14.53.0 +18.27.02.0 15 T.ASAGA D.ARAKAWA TOYOTA 57.11.21.0 +19.23.30.0 16 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 57.28.44.0 +19.40.53.0 17 K.WAUTERS J.DAMEN TOYOTA HDJ 100 57.47.15.0 +19.59.24.0 18 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 58.24.36.0 +20.36.45.0 19 C.ARNOUX J-L.LAPEYRE BUGGY PROTO 58.34.52.0 +20.47.01.0 26 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 69.05.31.0 +31.17.40.0