GRANADA-DAKAR 1999
Communique 5
LEG 4: TAN TAN (MOROCCO) - BIR MOGREIN (MAURITANIA)
Distance: 515 KM
Stage distance: 451 KM


BIR MOGREIN, MAURITANIA,
Monday, January 4, 1999

Mitsubishi's Kleinschmidt Still Leads Dakar Rally
Despite Strong Competition

As the 1999 Granada-Dakar Rally entered Mauritania today, German lady crew Jutta Kleinschmidt and her Swedish co-driver Tina Thorner held on to a slender six minute lead at the end of Leg 4 in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, despite a concerted attack from their rivals which saw Schlesser Megane Buggy drivers Jose Maria Servia and Jean-Louis Schlesser rise to second and third respectively.

In the warm, dry air of the sunny Sahara, the Dakar Rally produced one of the closest battles between different makes of car in many years, as the Schlesser buggies launched their attack on the Mitsubishi crews. The Nissan crews also took the battle to their rivals to make it a fascinating three way fight over the fast, stony and very rough desert floor. Just 29 cars remained in the African classic when the event restarted at Tan Tan along with 148 motorbikes and 29 trucks.

Said Jutta: "I'm very happy but I was so nervous because this was the first time I have led the Dakar. But no-one passed us. It was a very stony route and very rough in places, but not having any punctures made a big difference for us."

The biggest disappointment of the day was the stage result scored by Dakar expert and rally favourite Jean-Pierre Fontenay. The Frenchman dropped to 10th overall, 45 minutes behind the leaders, in his Team PIAA Mitsubishi Ralliart Pajero/Montero after suffering no less than three punctures. With no spare tyres left, he drove very slowly and gingerly over the final sections losing an enormous amount of time to his rivals.

Said and uncharacteristically downbeat Fontenay: "I'm suffering from nervous exhaustion. To have all those punctures and drive so far knowing that if you damage a tyre again you're finished is a big stress."

French pair Jean-Louis Schlesser and Philippe Monet took advantage of their rivals' tyre problems to take third fastest and moved up to third place overall in their buggy, just ahead of Japanese ace Hiroshi Masuoka who was fourth fastest and fourth overall in his Team Mitsubishi Oil Pajero Sport/Montero Sport.

Masuoka also avoided punctures but revealed; "We had some small fuel problems and the rear door flew open twice, so we had to stop and fix that. Otherwise it was not so bad and we were very careful."

Kenjiro Shinozuka finished the leg in fifth position in his Team Mitsubishi Oil Ralliart Pajero/Montero, and reported: "After the punctures yesterday, we drove very slowly and carefully today, but we still had a puncture."

While the Mitsubishis were slowed by misfortune, the Nissans took advantage of the situation and made good progress. Thierry De Lavergne led the charge to set sixth fastest time, moving the Frenchman to seventh, just one place behind his team mate Salvador Servia, who in turn ended the leg just a couple of minutes adrift of Shinozuka's Mitsubishi, making this one of the most closely fought Dakar stages in many years.

In the T1 category for standard vehicles, the Mitsubishi drivers maintained their dominance, however, with Jean-Francois Guinot and Manfred Kroiss holding onto the class lead in their Mitsubishi. France's famous World Ski Champion Luc Alphand had another good day and finished the leg in second place, with Neil Woolridge's similar Mitsubishi dropping to third to make it a Mitsubishi 1-2-3 ahead of the lone Toyota driven by Gerard Sarrazin in fourth position, nearly 20 minutes behind.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 5, 1999
LEG 5: BIR MOGREIN - ATAR
Distance: 630 KM
Special Stage: 625 KM

The Dakar 1999 reaches its most spectacular and dramatic point on leg five with the longest stage of the entire event, held between Bir Mogrein and the desert outpost of Atar in Mauritania. Heading south through the Sahara Desert, the surviving competitors will enjoy a mass in-line start, blasting flat out across a yellow lunar landscape withenormous sand dunes and rocky outcrops. The most difficult section will be the 30 km crossing of the Aoum Agouaba Erg - a vast sea of hard sand, the diagonal route over which only the best navigators will be able to find first time!

4th stage, Tan Tan- Bir Mogrein / Total 515km, SS 451km
(Monday, January 4, 1999)