COMMUNIQUE 19 12 January 2002 Kiffa - Dakar Liaison 450 km - SS 165 km - Liaison 396 km - Total 1011 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon (12 January 2002)

Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero driver Hiroshi Masuoka is but a hair’s breadth away from a classic victory on this year’s Arras-Madrid-Dakar rally. The Japanese driver arrived in Dakar today with a 22-minute lead over Mitsubishi teammate and last year’s winner, Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany. Kenjiro Shinozuka is in third place in his Pajero/Montero and, incredibly, Mitsubishis fill the top eight places overall. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart K. Shinozuka / T. Delli-Zotti (12 January 2002) Only a third of the field actually reached Dakar on this year’s 10,000 km adventure. Just 33 cars out of the original 117 starters made it to the sunny Senegalese capital, and they only have a short 31 km trundle around the Rose Lake on the city’s outskirts to complete before the final result is settled. Barring total disaster, Masuoka will almost certainly be declared the winner. Gregoire De Mevius of Belgium won today’s 165 km stage from Kiffa and across the border into Senegal - little consolation to the Nissan driver who was the only non-Mitsubishi driver to put up a serious challenge for the lead before his engine almost expired half-way through the event. The leading Mitsubishi drivers hardly cared as they picked their way carefully through the second part of the second marathon stage of the event. After driving through the night to reach the start of the competitive section in Boutilimit, they faced a difficult drive through a maze of lightly vegetated semi-desert tracks where it was very easy to get lost. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz (12 January 2002) A beaming Masuoka, however, was careful not to declare victory just yet, explaining: "We are in Dakar, but it is not over yet. The special stage was quite easy. But the section was so long and the road was very twisty. You had to be very careful, especially where it was raining and the track was slippery. I feel very tired and need to sleep well and look forward to tomorrow. My fingers are crossed. It is not over just yet". Kleinschmidt was philosophical having clearly missed out on the possibility of the second win. She said: "It was hard for us, because at Kiffa we didn’t sleep. Then we had to drive for 400 kms on a bad track to arrive at the stage start. Then we slept a little, but not much. I don’t like those Marathon stages. Of course, I would have liked to win, but I had many problems this year. I have broken my transmission twice, we have lost one hour repairing the damage and with that it is impossible to win". Mitsubishi L 200 Team Mitsubishi Galp TMN Chesterfield C. Sousa / V. Jesus (12 January 2002) With the Rally almost over, it looks like Mitsubishi will have plenty to celebrate. With Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay in fourth in a Pajero/Montero, Portuguese Mitsubishi L200 driver Carlos Sousa in fifth, and Dakar newcomer Saeed Al-Hajri of Qatar in sixth in an L200, it looks like a Mitsubishi whitewash. Plus, of course, there’s former World Champion Downhill skier Luc Alphand in seventh place, leading the Diesel section in his Pajero/Montero, and Klever Kolberg of Brazil making it an all-Mitsubishi top eight in his Pajero/Montero. All that remains now for the survivors is a good night’s sleep before the final drive around the Rose Lake of Dakar, and the celebrations on the finish ramp!

Times on SS 14 1 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 1.33.06.0   2 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 1.36.18.0 +3.12.0 3 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 1.38.14.0 +5.08.0 4 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 1.39.51.0 +6.45.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 1.41.17.0 +8.11.0 6 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 1.45.41.0 +12.35.0 7 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 1.51.54.0 +18.48.0 8 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 1.53.59.0 +20.53.0 9 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 1.56.19.0 +23.13.0 10 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 1.57.10.0 +24.04.0 11 J-F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 1.59.30.0 +26.24.0 12 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 2.00.41.0 +27.35.0 13 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 2.00.56.0 +27.50.0 14 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 2.03.29.0 +30.23.0 15 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 2.05.42.0 +32.36.0 16 T.ASAGA D.ARAKAWA TOYOTA 2.07.40.0 +34.34.0 19 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 2.10.46.0 +37.40.0 27 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 2.20.22.0 +47.16.0

Overall after SS 14 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 45.48.08.0   2 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 46.10.09.0 +22.01.0 3 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 46.25.19.0 +37.11.0 4 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 47.27.34.0 +1.39.26.0 5 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 51.11.25.0 +5.23.17.0 6 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 54.15.19.0 +8.27.11.0 7 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 56.30.03.0 +10.41.55.0 8 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 58.11.06.0 +12.22.58.0 9 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 61.35.37.0 +15.47.29.0 10 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 63.40.57.0 +17.52.49.0 11 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 63.45.52.0 +17.57.44.0 12 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 65.31.47.0 +19.43.39.0 13 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 66.26.02.0 +20.37.54.0 14 J-P.STRUGO B.CATTARELLI MERCEDES ML 430 67.15.57.0 +21.27.49.0 15 T.ASAGA D.ARAKAWA TOYOTA 67.29.18.0 +21.41.10.0 16 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 68.16.30.0 +22.28.22.0 22 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 76.18.36.0 +30.30.28.0 25 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 79.06.07.0 +33.17.59.0