COMMUNIQUE 7 31 December 2001 Madrid - Rabat Liaison 5 km - SS 6 km - Liaison 950 km - Total 961 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz (31 December 2001)

The lead Mitsubishis in this year’s Total Arras-Madrid-Dakar Rally are all comfortably grouped within the top ten as this year’s epic motor sport event finally reaches Africa, after three muddy days in Europe. Rain and slippery mud once again caused havoc at Madrid where a short, 6km stage was held, mostly for the benefit of spectators who turned out in droves to watch, despite the foul weather. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard (31 December 2001) Once they had completed the stage, the remaining competitors in this year’s Dakar drove for over 900km further south to where a ferry was waiting to transport them to Rabat in Morocco, where New Year’s Eve celebrations were planned before the serious business of tacking long, tough African stages. Again, the third and final European stage presented a challenge of just avoiding costly mistakes rather than bidding for the lead. At the end of the day, Gregoire de Mevius of Belgium was left in the lead in his Nissan, followed by Fernando Gil, who set an impressive time to win the stage in his Seat Cordoba in front of his home crowd. The Spanish capital city of Madrid was shrouded in drizzle as the cars and bikes tackled the quagmire stage through the city’s potential Olympic complex. The Mitsubishis slithered their way carefully through the mud, experienced enough to know that you simply do not push your luck before reaching Africa where the rally will be won or lost. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart K. Shinozuka / T. Delli-Zotti (31 December 2001) Portugal’s Carlos Sousa leads the Mitsubishi troupe in his L200, fourth behind Stephane Peterhansel’s Nissan. Sousa is closely followed into Africa by Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka in fifth place in his Pajero/Montero, who in turn is followed by Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany, Jean-Pierre Fontenay of France, and Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan – all in Pajeros/Monteros, giving the leaderboard a distinctly Mitsubishi flavour. Shinozuka commented: "It has been a strange few days. We had the rain in Arras, mud on the first stage, then it was dry and dusty at Chateau Lastours, and then we saw more rain and a lot of mud at Madrid". Masuoka agreed; "It was so slippery in that stage. The car was sliding everywhere. We owed it to the spectators to put on a little show, but you had to be careful because it was easy to make a mistake". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Evolution Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon (31 December 2001) The experienced Fontenay also pointed out the importance of just staying out of trouble in Europe and waiting for the African stages, adding: "It’s fun for the spectators, but I prefer the longer stages in Africa. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks". Kleinschmidt agreed: "It will be nice to start the real race in Africa. The Madrid stage was fun, but now we must get ready for the real race". Sousa enjoyed the Madrid test, revealing: "I was sliding everywhere. I think I owe a small apology to a few spectators, because I came out of one hairpin a little sideways and sprayed them with mud! There were umbrellas going up as we left the corner!" For now, however, after the short ferry trip to Morocco, the competitors will enjoy a relatively quiet celebration of the New Year, before resting and preparing for the challenges that lie ahead, starting with an 80km special stage in a 537km route to Er Rachidia, over winding sand and gravel tracks through forests of cork, pine and eucalyptus trees.

Times on SS 3 1 F.GIL R.TORNABELL SEAT DAKAR 5.48.0   2 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 5.55.0 +7.0 3 B.SABY J.BOUSSIER FORD RANGER 6.14.0 +26.0 4 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.29.0 +41.0 5 M.PLAZA PEREZ I.SALVADOR IBANEZ NISSAN NAVARA 6.35.0 +47.0 6 E.LATHOUWERS L.VERELST TOYOTA HDJ 80 6.37.0 +49.0 7 A.LEKAVICIUS V.VALIUKEVICIUS TOYOTA 6.40.0 +52.0 8 M.ROUND P.ROUND ROVER WILDCAT 200 6.46.0 +58.0 9 M.MILLER D.VON ZITZEWITZ TOYOTA 6.49.0 +1.01.0 10 M.JOINEAU P.FERRAND JOINEAU 6.50.0 +1.02.0 14 I.COHEN H.SEGAL MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 6.58.0 +1.10.0 24 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.10.0 +1.22.0 27 D.COHEN E.BITTON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.12.0 +1.24.0 30 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.15.0 +1.27.0 38 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 7.23.0 +1.35.0 40 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.24.0 +1.36.0 41 S.PETERHANSEL J.P.COTTRET NISSAN PICK UP 7.25.0 +1.37.0 46 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.30.0 +1.42.0 50 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.36.0 +1.48.0 53 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.37.0 +1.49.0 56 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 7.39.0 +1.51.0 58 Y.LOUBET P.BOCANDE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 7.40.0 +1.52.0 63 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 7.48.0 +2.00.0 66 J-M.SERVIA E.OLLER CARBO RENAULT KANGOO 7.52.0 +2.04.0 68 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 7.53.0 +2.05.0 72 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.02.0 +2.14.0 75 M.PRIETO J.VIDARTE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.06.0 +2.18.0 82 T.ANDRETTA M.SIMONI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 8.22.0 +2.34.0 104 S.HENRARD J-M.LURQUIN RENAULT KANGOO DCI 10.12.0 +4.24.0 105 J-L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE RENAULT KANGOO DCI 10.16.0 +4.28.0

Overall after SS 3 1 G.DE MEVIUS A.GUEHENNEC NISSAN PICK UP 39.42.0   2 F.GIL R.TORNABELL SEAT DAKAR 39.56.0 +14.0 3 S.PETERHANSEL J.P.COTTRET NISSAN PICK UP 40.39.0 +57.0 4 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 40.41.0 +59.0 5 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 40.46.0 +1.04.0 6 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 40.58.0 +1.16.0 7 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 40.59.0 +1.17.0 8 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 41.32.0 +1.50.0 9 J-M.SERVIA E.OLLER CARBO RENAULT KANGOO 42.42.0 +3.00.0 10 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 43.16.0 +3.34.0 11 M.PLAZA PEREZ I.SALVADOR IBANEZ NISSAN NAVARA 43.32.0 +3.50.0 12 F.PICCO C.DAL ZOTTO TOYOTA HDJ 80 43.36.0 +3.54.0 13 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 43.59.0 +4.17.0 14 A.LEKAVICIUS V.VALIUKEVICIUS TOYOTA 44.06.0 +4.24.0 15 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 44.41.0 +4.59.0 16 J-F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 44.50.0 +5.08.0 17 M.PRIETO J.VIDARTE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 45.04.0 +5.22.0 =18 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 45.31.0 +5.49.0 =18 E.SMULEVICI J.KOHUT NISSAN NAVARA 45.31.0 +5.49.0 20 B.LHOTELLERIE B.LEHERON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 45.35.0 +5.53.0 21 C.ARNOUX J-L.LAPEYRE BUGGY PROTO 45.37.0 +5.55.0 22 D.HOUSIEAUX M.DOMINELLA NISSAN NAVARA 46.00.0 +6.18.0 23 J-L.MONTERDE A.PIO NISSAN PATROL 46.02.0 +6.20.0 24 J-L.SCHLESSER H.MAGNE RENAULT KANGOO DCI 46.06.0 +6.24.0 27 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 46.23.0 +6.41.0 29 N.MISSLIN J-M.POLATO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 46.45.0 +7.03.0 30 T.ANDRETTA M.SIMONI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 46.53.0 +7.11.0 33 I.COHEN H.SEGAL MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 47.47.0 +8.05.0 69 S.HENRARD J-M.LURQUIN RENAULT KANGOO DCI 51.43.0 +12.01.0 72 B.SABY J.BOUSSIER FORD RANGER 52.23.0 +12.41.0