COMMUNIQUE 12 5 January 2002 Zouerat - Atar Liaison 9 km - SS 383 km - Liaison 4 km - Total 396 km

Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart H. Masuoka / P. Maimon (5 January 2002)

Mitsubishi moved towards total dominance of the 2002 Arras-Madrid-Dakar Rally on the toughest leg yet between Zouerat and Atar in Mauritania. As the rally reached its half way point in the scorching 36 degree Celsius heat of the Sahara, Mitsubishi Pajero/Monteros held the top four places with Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka at the head of the pack holding an 11m 46s lead over his Mitsubishi team mates. Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J. Kleinschmidt / A. Schulz (5 January 2002) Masuoka had promised he would attack on the 383 km competitive section, and he lived up to that promise with a stunning leg victory, 5m 05s faster than second fastest Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany, also driving a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. The stage crossed numerous ergs, including the vast Erg de El Beyyed and countless sand dunes making it an extremely arduous and grueling stage. The threat to Mitsubishi’s dominance from Nissan faded when Belgian Gregoire de Mevius, who had been third overnight, got bogged down in sand and had to be towed out by a truck. He returned to Zouerat with continuing engine troubles. A clearly delighted Masuoka said at Atar: "I spoke to my mechanics and they said push today, so I pushed and we had a good stage. The sand was not too difficult, but the dunes were very high and we damaged the bumper. There will be no team orders. We are all professional drivers and have different sponsors. It will be a battle to the end". Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Mitsubishi Ralliart J.P. Fontenay / G. Picard (5 January 2002) The potential threats to Masuoka’s lead may all come from team mates, but all admitted that they would be driving to win. Japanese ace Kenjiro Shinozuka is closest in second place overall, but today’s leg was incident-packed for the former Dakar winner. He reported: "I had a puncture 70 kms into the stage and we lost some time because the jacking point on the car was damaged. But I’m happy with second place. We will look at the car now and maybe change the suspension and differential. The suspension is tired after the last few days". Shinozuka also unexpectedly lost a minute last night when the rally organisers gave him a one-minute penalty for apparently approaching a check point too fast. Kleinschmdt is now third at Atar in her Pajero/Montero. Last year’s winner enjoyed a problem-free day, but added: "We ran a good stage but I take my hat off to Hiroshi. He was flying today. I feel sorry for Gregoire - it would have been nice to have a battle with Nissan. My car is OK now. I’ve had my problems but now I’m looking forward to next week!" Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero Team Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart K. Shinozuka / T. Delli-Zotti (5 January 2002) Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay, who also suffered a puncture today, is now fourth at the half-way point in the fourth Pajero/Montero, while Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa is gradually moving back up the field and is now sixth in his Mitsubishi L200. Qatar’s Saeed Al-Hajri had been in seventh place in his similar L200, but dropped back to eighth after rolling his car and losing an hour. Luc Alphand, the former World Downhill Ski Champion from France, moved into the vacant seventh spot in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. Half the rally may have been completed, but there is still a long way to go over some very tough stages before anyone can fully relax. Tomorrow, the remaining competitors can take a breather and soak up the sunshine in the desert outpost of Atar with the traditional Sunday rest day, before venturing back out into the Sahara again on Monday when competition resumes.

Times on SS 8 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 3.53.39.0   2 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 3.58.44.0 +5.05.0 3 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 4.01.54.0 +8.15.0 4 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 4.03.58.0 +10.19.0 5 S.PETERHANSEL J.P.COTTRET NISSAN PICK UP 4.21.58.0 +28.19.0 6 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 4.40.26.0 +46.47.0 7 M.PLAZA PEREZ I.SALVADOR IBANEZ NISSAN NAVARA 4.56.10.0 +1.02.31.0 8 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 4.56.40.0 +1.03.01.0 9 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 5.01.29.0 +1.07.50.0 10 F.GIL R.TORNABELL SEAT DAKAR 5.02.58.0 +1.09.19.0 11 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 5.14.00.0 +1.20.21.0 12 G.LORA LAMIA R.DI PERSIO MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 5.17.52.0 +1.24.13.0 13 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 5.19.05.0 +1.25.26.0 14 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 5.21.11.0 +1.27.32.0 15 J-F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 5.25.08.0 +1.31.29.0 16 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 5.28.56.0 +1.35.17.0 17 J.LOOMANS M.LAUWERS MERCEDES G 400 5.35.01.0 +1.41.22.0 18 K.WAUTERS J.DAMEN TOYOTA HDJ 100 5.37.06.0 +1.43.27.0 19 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 5.38.23.0 +1.44.44.0 20 R.VILA ALTIMIR E.PALACIOS BMW 5.39.46.0 +1.46.07.0

Overall after SS 8 1 H.MASUOKA P.MAIMON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 14.34.59.0   2 K.SHINOZUKA T.DELLI-ZOTTI MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 14.46.45.0 +11.46.0 3 J.KLEINSCHMIDT A.SCHULZ MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 15.01.08.0 +26.09.0 4 J-P.FONTENAY G.PICARD MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 15.31.46.0 +56.47.0 5 S.PETERHANSEL J.P.COTTRET NISSAN PICK UP 16.00.51.0 +1.25.52.0 6 C.SOUSA V.JESUS MITSUBISHI L 200 17.01.13.0 +2.26.14.0 7 L.ALPHAND A.DEBRON MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 17.13.22.0 +2.38.23.0 8 S.AL-HAJRI M.STEVENSON MITSUBISHI L 200 17.31.47.0 +2.56.48.0 9 N.BARKAT E.BARKAT MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 17.38.00.0 +3.03.01.0 10 M.PLAZA PEREZ I.SALVADOR IBANEZ NISSAN NAVARA 17.45.18.0 +3.10.19.0 11 F.GIL R.TORNABELL SEAT DAKAR 18.23.20.0 +3.48.21.0 12 K.KOLBERG P.LARROQUE MITSUBISHI PAJERO/MONTERO 18.25.40.0 +3.50.41.0 13 T.DELAVERGNE J.DUBOIS NISSAN TERRANO 18.31.37.0 +3.56.38.0 14 J-F.GUINOT M.KROISS NISSAN TERRANO 18.59.55.0 +4.24.56.0 15 J-P.STRUGO B.CATTARELLI MERCEDES ML 430 19.16.17.0 +4.41.18.0 16 L.BOURGNON G.LENEVEU NISSAN TERRANO 19.17.09.0 +4.42.10.0 17 D.HOUSIEAUX M.DOMINELLA NISSAN NAVARA 19.32.02.0 +4.57.03.0 18 J-M.SALINERO L. CRUZ SENRA NISSAN NAVARA 19.37.59.0 +5.03.00.0 19 J-J.RATET J-P.GARCIN TOYOTA 19.47.24.0 +5.12.25.0 20 J.LOOMANS M.LAUWERS MERCEDES G 400 19.56.04.0 +5.21.05.0