After another long day of driving flat out across the Libyan desert, crossing the border into Egypt for the first time, there was little change at the front of the field in the Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally when the 14th leg finished in Dakhla today, January 20 - a quiet day after yesterday’s dramas.

In the fast conditions, running through canyons and sand dunes, there was little that third-placed French pair Jean-Pierre Fontenay and Gilles Picard could do in their Team Mitsubishi France Pajero/Montero to match the high top speed of the lightweight buggy driven by rally leader Jean-Louis Schlesser. Schlesser increased his lead marginally again today, and is now 13m 16s ahead of fellow Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel in his Mitsubishi-powered Mega Desert. However, Fontenay is still in touch with the leading pair.

There are still two very long stages to go, and while Fontenay’s Mitsubishi has its legendary reliability on its side, the conditions are still more suited to high-speed racing cars rather than true off-road rally vehicles.

Said Fontenay: "The problem is still the same. The 200 kms to the finish were flat-out. However, one advantage we did enjoy today was our tyre pressure system, which allows us to adjust the tyre pressures for the varying sand and rock conditions without stopping - which worked very well for us. It’s superb - saves us both tyres and time".

Also driving a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, sixth-placed Japanese driver Hiroshi Masuoka enjoyed the day alongside his German navigator Andreas Schulz, revealing: "It was a very easy day, but very long and very fast. We were side by side with a Nissan for the final 200km, and we were better on the technical sections and it was great fun".

In the Team Mitsubishi Germany Pajero/Montero, all-girl crew Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany and Tina Thorner of Sweden did not enjoy the stage however and dropped to fifth place, reporting: "We had two punctures just 10 km apart and the tyres disintegrated. The stage was very fast, but we tried to keep some pressure on the buggies".

Three legs, including two more long stages remain in the Dakar, however, and Schlesser’s leading margin remains slim. Fontenay especially is in a position to take over should either the buggy or the Mega Desert have problems.

Tomorrow’s stage, looping around the picturesque oasis at Dakhla, should be technically more challenging, running through massive sand dunes in the Western Desert, finishing off with a run through white marble valleys to the final descent straight down a sand-covered cliff, 20km from the finish!

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