GRANADA-DAKAR 1999
Communique 17
LEG 15: NOUAKCHOTT (MAURITANIA) - SAINT LOUIS (SENEGAL)
Distance: 257 KM
Stage distance: 151 KM


SAINT LOUIS, SENEGAL
Saturday, January 16, 1999

ALPHAND HEADING FOR PRODUCTION VICTORY FOR MITSUBISHI
WHILE PRIETO CONSOLIDATES IN SECOND OVERALL

Former world ski champion Luc Alphand of France is now almost certain of pulling off one of one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of the gruelling Dakar Rally. Despite his inexperience, the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero driver looks certain of winning the T1 production category in the 1999 Granada-Dakar after arriving at the end of the penultimate leg in Saint Louis, Senegal, with a lead close to two and a half hours.


Overall, Spanish driver Miguel Prieto used the 15th leg between Nouakchott in Mauritania and Saint Louis to consolidate his second position in the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. After one of the closest battles in the history of the event, he looks set to finish just half an hour behind likely winner Jean-Louis Schlesser's buggy. Co-driven by Frenchman Dominique Serieys, this will be Prieto's best ever result on the event.


A philosophical Prieto said at Saint Louis: " I drove very carefully so that we will be sure of second. If I had won this year, what challenges would there be left?"

Providing there are no last minute hitches, Jean-Louis Schlesser is assured of victory in Dakar in his buggy, but all eyes will be on girl crew Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany and Swede Tina Thorner, who will become the first females ever to grace the podium of the car section if they keep their current third position in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. Earlier in the event they made history by becoming the first females ever to lead the event, when they hit the front for three days.

Driving the Team PIAA Ralliart Pajero/Montero, last year's Dakar winners Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard, both from France, won the 151 km competitive section today although after serious time losses in the first half of the event they are likely to finish in ninth position. Japanese driver and winner of the Dakar two years ago, Kenjiro Shinozuka, co-driven by Frenchman Henri Magne, will probably take fourth place in the Team Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart Pajero/Montero. Fellow countryman Hiroshi Masuoka, driving the Team Ralliart Pajero Sport/Montero Sport and navigated by German Andreas Schulz, has so far beaten off the Nissans of Stephane Peterhansel and Thierry De Lavergne and will finish sixth, with the Nissans in seventh and eighth respectively. Buggy driver Jose Maria Servia will almost certainly be fifth.

At Saint Louis, Mitsubishis appear to be the most successful machines across all categories, with five in the top 10. In the all-important T1 category for standard production vehicles, Mitsubishis fill at least the top two positions, with Brazilian Klever Kolberg in second, both in Pajeros/Monteros.


Tomorrow, Sunday, January 17, 1999
LEG 16: SAINT-LOUIS - DAKAR
Distance: 260 KM
Special Stage: 20 KM

Finally, the last surviving competitors in this year's epic motoring adventure reach the Senegalese Capital Dakar. After trekking from Granada in Spain, down into Africa and through the Sahara and Sahel, they reach the coastal town and head for a final, short 20 km blast around the famous Pink Lake, before celebrating their achievement in front of thousands of spectators.