COMMUNIQUE 18 11 January 2002 Tichit - Kiffa SS 457 km - Liaison 4 km - Total 461 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz (11 January 2002)

For one heart-stopping moment today, on the first part of the final marathon section of the Dakar, it seemed the mighty Hiroshi Masuoka might lose his impressive lead after all. The Japanese Mitsubishi driver started the leg from Tichit to Kiffa with a 52 minute lead, but got lost in the uncharacteristically rain-soaked desert for 20 km, while fellow Pajero/Montero driver Jutta Kleinschmidt forged her way through slimy desert sand to win the leg. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart Kenjiro Shinozuka (11 January 2002) Kleinschmidt’s stage victory launched her from third to second, while fellow Mitsubishi driver Kenjiro Shinozuka dropped back to third after getting two punctures. At Kiffa, however, during the compulsory eight-hour break before starting the second part of the marathon leg to Dakar, Masuoka was still confident that his much-reduced 18-minute lead was still enough to ensure victory. "We lost our way for 20 kms. Normal day for me. If you ask me if 18 minutes is enough, I say yes", he asserted. Kleinschmidt, however, was delighted with her progress. Incredibly, the situation is a carbon copy of last year’s position at the same point, and Kleinschmidt went on to win the rally on that occasion. She commented: "We had a good stage. The sand was so slippery because of the rain. Navigation was important. There was a tricky point in the road book and we found the right track and this was crucial. The others got lost. It will be so difficult for the trucks to get through that stage. By my calculation we are 18 minutes behind Hiro now. Maybe I am the ’lady of the last day’, who knows? But it is only a couple of broken driveshafts and we could win the Dakar". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard (11 January 2002) Rain such as never been seen before on the Dakar made the last long stage of this year’s event particularly tricky. After the storms at Tichit, the surviving competitors were faced with 457 km of slippery, rain-soaked sand and constant drizzle. Not the sort of weather conditions one would normally expect in the Sahara. Jean-Pierre Fontenay, currently fourth in his Mitsubishi Pajero-Montero, reported: "It’s the first time since I came to Africa that I have had to drive all alone with the rain like that with the windscreen wipers on. It was slippery; we got a bit lost. It was incredible; we have driven for 50 kms like that, but never for a whole day. There was no grip and that made it really difficult. We had to be careful, but it was not to bad for us, it will be worse for some of the others. I have no interest in attacking now, because I have nothing to win. I did the stage slowly with Masuoka. Now we know the classification, Masuoka should be first". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon (11 January 2002) Shinozuka, now third, was disappointed at getting two punctures. Had he not suffered such bad luck, he would undoubtedly have been very close to Masuoka’s lead. He reported: "The start of the stage was very bumpy, not good for my back and my neck. I was running well. We passed the chott (dried salt lake) with no problems and then I had two punctures. This cost me a lot of time. The sand was so slippery because of the rain. I have taken part in 17 Dakars and this was the first time I saw rain like this. I will need some good luck tomorrow if I am to win, because the stage is only short". Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa managed to keep hold of his fifth position in his Mitsubishi L200, despite getting stuck in deep rain-saturated sand and he had to stop and dig himself out. As today was a marathon stage, the positions as they stand are only an indication of the result as there is still another 165 km of competitive driving to go through the bush country of Senegal. The competitors have an eight-hour compulsory "rest section" this evening in Kiffa before starting the long 1011 km haul to Dakar. It will be a long drive, but with such a comparatively short competitive section, it’s unlikely to produce a change in the leaderboard unless disaster strikes.

Leg 14 - Tichit - Kiffa SS 13 - 457.00 km - Friday 11 January

Times on SS 13 1 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 5.50.05.0   2 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.07.05.0 +17.00.0 3 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.21.55.0 +31.50.0 4 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.23.59.0 +33.54.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 7.11.06.0 +1.21.01.0 6 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.26.41.0 +1.36.36.0 =7 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 7.50.27.0 +2.00.22.0 =7 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 7.50.27.0 +2.00.22.0 9 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.00.19.0 +2.10.14.0 10 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 8.10.59.0 +2.20.54.0 11 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 8.13.59.0 +2.23.54.0 12 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.15.01.0 +2.24.56.0 13 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 8.27.30.0 +2.37.25.0 14 M.MILLER D.VON ZITZEWITZ TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 8.29.54.0 +2.39.49.0 15 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.44.17.0 +2.54.12.0 16 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.57.00.0 +3.06.55.0

Overall after SS 13 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 44.11.50.0   2 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 44.30.18.0 +18.28.0 3 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 44.47.05.0 +35.15.0 4 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 45.26.38.0 +1.14.48.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 49.30.08.0 +5.18.18.0 6 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 52.29.38.0 +8.17.48.0 7 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 54.09.41.0 +9.57.51.0 8 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 56.19.12.0 +12.07.22.0 9 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 59.29.55.0 +15.18.05.0 10 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 63.21.01.0 +19.09.11.0 11 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 64.28.52.0 +20.17.02.0 12 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 66.13.01.0 +22.01.11.0 13 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 66.35.35.0 +22.23.45.0 - G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 77.33.01.0 +33.21.11.0