Bangkok--Jan 10--Asatsu Thailand
Mitsubishi holds first and second places after gruelling Dakar marathon stage into Tichit, teams was proven at the end of the Marathon Stage with 4 cars in top 10 positions in overall category
All racers must face with real cruelty of Dakar Rally, stage 7, from Zouerat to Tichit in Mauritania, with a total distance of 669 km. Its special stage is full of deserts for 660 km. long. All racers used their skill and lost a lot of energy in driving over the dunes. Their performance in the adverse weather conditions lifted the defending champions into the outright lead of the rally. The most important of all is that no assisting cars is allowed to help the racing cars during this stage. Therefore, stage 7 proved the real performance of the drivers and Mitsubishi cars.
After this cruel stage, out of 469 teams in car category starting from Barcelona, only 66 teams can pass through the next stage. Mitsubishi Motor Repsoil ATS Studio can move up to be one of the top 10 in overall for 4 teams. Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret in car number 306 can maintain its being number one in stage 7, with 8 hours and 21.57 minutes spent during the 660-km. special stage. This moved their overall time up to be number one at 17 hours and 47 minutes from the 5th position in the previous stage. Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard in car number 312 can maintain the constant time during this stage at the 4th position in the special stage with 8 hours and 50.08 minutes. They can maintain the 2nd position with 18 hours and 13.19 minutes. Hiroshi Masuoka and Andreas Schulz, in car number 309, who faced some technical problems with their car and lost a lot of time, did better in stage 7. Masuoka followed Luc Alphand and was at the 5th position of this stage with 9 hours and 4.27 minutes, contributing to the overall time at the 9th position with 21 hours and 21.47 minutes. Nami Roma and Magne Henri moved up to the 7th position of this stage with 10 hours and 8.01 minutes, and the 6th position in overall with 20 hours and 20.54 minutes.
Mitsubishi Ralliart Team of Van Deijine and Franz Van Zutven can overcome the difficulty all the way to Tichit and was at the 32nd position, with 8 hours and 16.30 minutes in special stage, and at the 34th position with 31 hours and 29.30 minutes in overall. The remaining teams can’t finish their race in this stage due to the obstacles on the way.
In stage 8 from the Mitsubishi Motors Repsol ATS Studios Team heads in a southerly and then westerly direction to the remote airstrip at Tidjikja, a regular stopover on the Dakar Rally. The 520 kms stage features a run through the notorious Nega Pass and a mixture of camel grass, fast rocky terrain and twisty tracks, but ASO officials decided to shorten the stage to 130 kms due to the difficulty of todays special into Tichit and the late arrival of many competitors.
Positions on SS6 (21.00 hrs, just five cars arrived at the bivouac):
1. Stephane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 8h 21m 57s
2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X5 8h 47m 37s
3. Jutta Kleinschmidt (D)/Fabrizia Pons (I) Volkswagen Touareg 8h 48m 04s
4. Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 8h 50m 08s
5. Hiroshi Masuoka (J)/Andreas Schulz (D) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 9h 04m 27s
Overall classification after SS6 (21.00 hrs, just five cars arrived the bivouac):
1. Stephane Peterhansel (F)/Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 17h 51m 47s
2. Luc Alphand (F)/Gilles Picard (F) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 18h 13m 19s
3. Jutta Kleinschmidt (D)/Fabrizia Pons (I) Volkswagen Touareg 18h 14m 31s
4. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QA)/Alain Guehennec (F) BMW X5 18h 14m 40s
tba. Hiroshi Masuoka (J)/Andreas Schulz (D) Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution 21h 21m 47s
For Motor Sports Thai fans are invited to follow up the race of ‘Telefonica Barcelona-Dakar 2005’, the result can be seen from now on until the end of the rally on January 16, 2005, at Channel 11, between 01:00 — 01:30 A.M. every night. Some parts of the rally may be viewed in sports news of all channels (3, 5, 7, 9 and ITV). The news update can be followed up at www.dakar.com and www.mitsubishi-motors.co.th.
Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net End.