GRANADA-DAKAR 1999
Communique 10



BOBO DIOULASSO, BURKINA FASO
Saturday, January 9, 1999

PRIETO AND KLEINSCHMIDT STRONG FOR
MITSUBISHI IN CLOSEST EVER DAKAR BATTLE

The 21st Dakar has so far been one of the most hotly contested ever, with just over five minutes separating the top three crews after an amazing trek through Morocco, Mauritania and Mali covering 4,380 km, including 2,687 km of competitive sections. Neck and neck with rally leader Jean-Louis Schlesser's buggy are Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero crew Miguel Prieto of Spain and Dominique Serieys of France, alongside German lady Jutta Kleinschmidt and Swede Tina Thorner in a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero.

Of the 161 motorbikes, 88 cars and 50 trucks that started out from Granada, just 75 bikes, 47 cars and 19 trucks remain in the rally at the halfway point rest day at Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso.

Kleinschmidt has been the talk of the rally. Currently in third place, she and Thorner became the first female crew in the history of the event to lead the Dakar, when they hit the front between Agadir and Tan Tan in Morocco, and held their advantage for three incredible days in their Mitsubishi. They are still very much in contention for victory at the half way point in Burkina Faso, just 5m 40s behind the leader.


Prieto is also very much the centre of attention in his Pajero/Montero. He scored his first ever Dakar stage victory on the short, five kilometre opening test on home soil in Granada, and then, a week later, he proved he could win on the long, hard African stages by winning two in a row on legs seven and eight, moving into second position, just two minutes behind Schlesser's buggy which now looks increasingly vulnerable.

Said Kleinschmidt: "It is the closest race for many years - it must be very exciting to watch. There are only five minutes between the top three - the time it takes to change just one puncture."

Prieto added: "It's been very long and difficult, especially the last stage to here. The navigation has been extremely hard and it's been very tough, but we must be having fewer problems than everyone else to win the last two stages."

Pre-rally favourites Jean-Pierre Fontenay of France and Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan have had less good fortune. Driving the Team PIAA Ralliart Pajero/Montero, co-driven by Gilles Picard, Fontenay initially took the lead from Prieto after the first 100 km stage in Africa as the competing crews moved from the mud, rain and cold of Granada to the summer-like warmth, dust and rocky tracks of Morocco. But on the following legs Fontenay lost time with multiple punctures and then on the long 625 km stage from Bir Mogrein to Atar he suffered a smashed windscreen and dropped out of the top 10.

Shinozuka, co-driven by Henri Magne, also suffered punctures in Morocco in his Team Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart Pajero/Montero, but lost even more time when he ran out of fuel and was rescued by Fontenay just 60 km from Tidjikja. He dropped to sixth as a result.

After their misfortunes and delays, Shinozuka, Masuoka and Fontenay are now targeting the Nissans with which they are now embroiled in a major battle for fourth, fifth and sixth positions. Shinozuka and Masuoka are on target, having seen off the challenges from Thierry De Lavergne in his Nissan and Jose Maria Servia who dropped to sixth after getting stuck and lost losing his earlier lead in his buggy. Fontenay has a much tougher task, needing to climb back from 12th place overall if he is to reach sixth or seventh by Dakar. Meanwhile Carlos Souza of Portugal, co-driven by Willy Alcaraz has made an astounding recovery after earlier setbacks to move back up to 10th in his Mitsubishi L200, joing the battle with the Nissans.

In the toughest class of all, the T1 category in which standard production vehicles attempt the same route, the amazing Frenchman Luc Alphand, the ex-world ski champion, led the class by around four hours in his Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, despite his lack of experience driving competitively in Africa. At the halfway point, he had beaten off challenges from the vastly experienced Jean-Pierre Strugo, also driving a Pajero/Montero, and survived a long-running battle with fellow Frenchman and Mitsubishi driver Jean-Francois Guinot. Brazilian Klever Kolberg had also led at one point in his Mitsubishi, and was still going strong at Bobo Dioulasso. Strugo also heads the extremely tough Marathon category, which has the additional challenge of not being allowed to change any major parts on the car if they get damaged during the rally.

So far, the 1999 Grenada-Dakar has witnessed and incredibly close and intense battle for victory, but with over half the distance still to run through some of the most inhospitable terrain Africa has to offer, it remains to be seen just who will survive the rigours of the desert to emerge victorious at the Pink Lake in Dakar on Sunday, January 17th.