The unusually high speed nature of this year’s Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally finally took its toll today on the 13th leg between Waha and Khofra in Libya when four of the leading competitors crashed out of the event. Although three Team Ralliart crew crashed into retirement, French pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard driving for Team Mitsubishi France in their Pajero/Montero moved up to third place overall, while Team Mitsubishi Germany’s all-girl crew, Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany and Sweden’s Tina Thorner, jumped to fourth in their similar machine.

Unfortunately, Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart’s star driver Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan, co-driven by Frenchman Dominique Serieys was one of the first retirements after spending most of the event in the lead in his Pajero/Montero. But along with three other crews running at the head of the field, his car crashed after leaping over a high sand dune 63 km into the stage.

Also crashing at the same point were Carlos Sousa and co-driver Joao Manuel Luz, in a Mitsubishi Strakar/L200, Miguel Prieto and Pascal Maimon in their Pajero/Montero, and Nissan driver Gregoire de Mevius. All four cars were travelling close together and crashed within seconds of each other. Medical rescue helicopters arrived on the scene soon after, and all eight men were taken to the medical centre at Waha before being flown to the University Hospital Centre in Tunis for further examinations.

The 610km, like the previous leg, was extremely fast over hard sand to Tazurbu, followed by 200km of rolling desert with a 120km final section over a vivid orange sea of sand dunes. The stage began with a spectacular mass in-line start with five cars side-by-side in groups.

Second-placed overall Stephane Peterhansel of France was the leg winner today in his Mitsubishi-powered Mega Desert, but fellow countryman Jean-Louis Schlesser remains marginally in the lead by over eight minutes in his Renault Buggy.

Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan and his German co-driver Andreas Schulz climbed to sixth place after the leaderboard shake-up in their Team Nisseki Mitsubishi Ralliart Pajero/Montero.

Third placed Fontenay would have been pleased to move up to third place to challenge the "Specials" in his Mitsubishi in other circumstances. But in view of the accidents, he expressed his distaste of the high-speed nature of the stages: "Stages like this - 300 or 400 km flat out for hours - are of no interest to me. I like good technical driving, like the stage to Niamey".

While the battle still rages at the front with more drama than has been since for many years on a Dakar Rally, back in the T1 class for standard cars Brazilian Klever Kolberg is still making good progress in fourth place.

The long, arduous high-speed stages will continue again tomorrow with a massive 852 km section, including a huge 789 km special stage that will take the remaining competitors finally into Egypt, finishing in Dakhla. This will be the longest stage of the Dakar 2000, with a wide range of types of terrain including dunes, canyons, mountain tracks and open desert.

[next day]