RECORD-BREAKING TEAM REPSOL MITSUBISHI RALLIART CLAIM SEVENTH SUCCESSIVE DAKAR RALLY VICTORY
21 January 2007
DAKAR -
Liaison 77kms / SS 16kms
Total 93kms
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart rewrote the history books by claiming a seventh successive victory in the punishing 2007 Dakar Rally after the final 16km special stage, near Dakar, in Sénégal on Sunday.
The success was a record-breaking 12th win in the team’s 25-year history of competing in the world’s toughest and most famous off-road rally. The French crew of Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret won the event for the third time in four years in their Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution and beat their team mates and defending champions Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard by a margin of just seven minutes 26 seconds, after 15 days of bruising competition across Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Sénégal.
Stephane Peterhansel/Jean Paul Cottret (1st place)
"I was very nervous on the last big African special stage yesterday and I just drove very slowly on the beach this morning," said Peterhansel. "It was not necessary to do the show for the crowd and the television on the last stage. When I won my first motorcycle race in Tunisia, I did not win a special stage, so in my head it was never a problem not to win a special stage on this Dakar. It is not that important.
"Taking the overall victory on the Dakar is the important thing. It is the best feeling. Our new MPR13 is very good and very fast, but I am sure that we can make even more improvements this year before we come back to try and win the Dakar again in 2008."
The Japanese manufacturer hit the front on the ninth special stage between Tichit and Néma in the Mauritanian Sahel, when long-time leader Giniel de Villiers suffered turbocharger problems and lost his place in the top 10. For the last six days of the rally, Mitsubishi controlled proceedings through careful team management, a professional approach by each of the drivers and thorough car preparation to record victory without the need to take a single stage win.
Stephane Peterhansel (left, 1st place)/Luc Alphand (right, 2nd place)
Mitsubishi also failed to clinch a stage win in 2001 when Jutta Kleinschmidt and Andreas Schulz clinched overall victory for the Japanese manufacturer. The statistic proved that individual stage wins on an event of the punishing nature of the Dakar are largely irrelevant.
"I won the race last year, but the important thing was to give the team victory again this time," said runner-up Alphand. "This morning it was like a party on the beach, with friends, the ocean and the victory. We proved that we have great team spirit, real determination and the best group of people."
Mitsubishi's winning 1-2 photo finish
Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon lost their chance of taking a podium finish with two time-consuming clutch problems and a series of flat tires, but the twice former winner reached Lac Rose in fifth position after a late time penalty cost rival Nasser Al-Attiyah his place in the top five.
"This is my first Dakar finish for three years and it was a nice feeling to reach the end," said Masuoka. "But I had some problems in the early stages and this cost me my chance of a win. The team has again proved that experience is crucial on an event like the Dakar. Now we can look forward to the future and our continued success in this rally."
Spaniards Joan ’Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz finished their first Dakar Rally together in 13th position, after clutch problems and a low-speed roll in the Mauritanian sand dunes pushed them out of contention. They were 10th fastest on the final stage, near Dakar, on Sunday, despite the fact that Roma was competing with a broken thumb after the incident with a tree stump on Saturday en route to Dakar.
"It was not my turn to win the Dakar this year, but it has been another great learning curve for me," said Roma. "It was my first event with Lucas and we have worked well together. I had some problems, but it is great to see the team continuing its winning streak. I can look forward to another season with Mitsubishi and planning ahead for the next Dakar, when it could be my turn to take the victory."
Drivers and co-drivers of the Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart management dedicated the Dakar win to the memory of co-driver Henri Magne, who lost his life in a tragic accident during last June’s Rally of Morocco. His wife and adopted child joined the team for the podium at Lac Rose. Magne won the Dakar Rally on two occasions and was third overall last year with Joan ’Nani’ Roma.
"I am very proud that we have managed to record the seventh win in seven years," said MMSP’s Managing and Sporting Director Dominique Serieys. "The new car won out of the box with a couple of minor problems with some external components and this bodes well for the ongoing development throughout 2007 and into 2008. I don’t think that this was a difficult Dakar. For sure, our strategy was different this time, but you can see from the number of finishers that it was maybe an easier race than previous years. We had many more difficult battles with Citroën in previous Dakars.
"Last summer we suffered the tragic loss of Henri Magne and he is always in our thoughts. But life has to go on. For that reason we have dedicated this victory to his honour and to his wife Lucette and baby Louis, who have joined us in Dakar to share this special and emotional occasion."
"I am very happy for the entire team that we have achieved this victory," said Osama Nakayama, General Manager, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation Okazaki R&D Motor Sports Team. "But it was very difficult this year. Volkswagen made great progress with their cars and it was a super fight for many days. We had some problems with the clutch, but the new MPR13 has won its first Dakar outing. For the future we will look to improve our chances of retaining the Dakar title and begin to develop environmentally-friendly technologies through our Cross-Country motor sport program."
Out of a capacity entry of 185 cars, 247 bikes and quads and 85 trucks, only 109 cars, 132 bikes and quads and 59 trucks reached the finish in Dakar after a shortened route of 7,915km, of which 4,309km were competitive.
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart will concentrate on further developing the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution over the coming months and will embark upon a new FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup program this season.
China’s Lui Bin and Thailand’s Pornsiriched finish Dakar Rally in 47th and 67th positions
Frenchman Housieaux leads Mitsubishi privateers in 19th
Novitskiy (20th), Soloviev (53rd) and Kolberg (57th) complete 2007 Dakar
China’s Lui Bin and French co-driver Serge Henninot survived a 10-minute scare at Lac Rose to complete the Dakar Rally in 47th place. They were classified last on the special stage, but the Chinese driver was understandably delighted with his success at reaching the finish.
"The objective was to reach Dakar and we achieved that target," said Bin. "It was a very difficult and long race, but I gained in confidence each day and managed to survive the very hard days in Mauritania. I enjoyed my first taste of the dunes and was confident that I could reach the finish once we were through Mauritania."
Frenchman Dominique Housieaux and co-driver Jean-Michel Polato were the leading Mitsubishi privateers to finish the event this year in 19th overall at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, one place ahead of the Russian driver Russian Leonid Novitskiy in his Mitsubishi L200 Triton.
Thailand’s Mana Pornsiriched and French co-driver Jean Brucy finished the rally in 67th position in their Mitsubishi L200 Triton.
"It is a fantastic feeling to reach Dakar," said Pornsiriched. "There were times over the last two weeks when I did not think it would be possible to complete the rally. But the mechanics did a fantastic job to keep us in the rally and we made it to the finish. It’s a great day for me."
Brazilian Klever Kolberg completed the rally in 57th place and Russian Yaroslav Soloviev was 53rd in their Mitsubishi Pajeros/Monteros.
Lac Rose (Pink Lake), Dakar, Senegal
Final Overall Standings
-MMSP
PETERHANSEL AND ALPHAND MAINTAIN TEAM REPSOL MITSUBISHI RALLIART’S FIRST AND SECOND PLACES AS EVENT ARRIVES IN DAKAR
20 January 2007
Tambacounda - Dakar
Liaison 351kms / SS 225kms
Total 576kms
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart arrived in the Sénégalese capital of Dakar firmly in command of the 29th Dakar Rally, after the penultimate special stage between Tambacounda and Dakar on Saturday.
Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret
The French duo of Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret began the last of the longer African special stages 11m 15s ahead of team mates Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard and maintained the overall lead, despite the fact that Alphand reduced their overall advantage to 7m 16s on the special.
Today’s stage offered many potential last minute pitfalls as it wound its way through populated areas and over tricky parallel tracks where accurate navigation was of paramount importance and there were numerous speed checks. Only 136 bikes, 109 cars and 60 trucks survived to take the start of the special.
Neither of the overall leaders had any intention of pushing too hard and it was no surprise that a third successive stage win eventually fell to Spaniard Carlos Sainz. Alphand and Peterhansel eventually finished the stage in seventh and 11th positions, but head into Sunday’s short competitive finale in a very strong position to extend Mitsubishi’s six-year winning streak on the Dakar.
Alphand/Picard
"I feel really happy to reach Dakar, but I was very nervous this morning," admitted Peterhansel. "Last year the navigation was not easy and we lost 20 minutes. It was not easy to find a good speed this morning. The track was not clear. It was possible to lose time so I started slowly. Marc Miller and Carlos Sousa passed me. On the second part of the stage we lost the track for a couple of minutes and I was very nervous. The speed restrictions helped us a lot. My eyes were always on the trip to check we were not going too fast."
"It’s a little frustrating for me to be second into Dakar, but it has been like this for the last few days," said Alphand. "Nevertheless it has been a great all-round team performance. I am very happy to reach Dakar. It was quite a strange stage this morning. There were 17 speed restriction zones and that made the navigation easier, because we were driving slower and there was a waypoint every five or six kilometres. Tomorrow is the beach and, hopefully, we will have a party with our friends at the podium."
Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon began the stage 15th on the road and were classified 10th at the PC checkpoint. They eventually reached the stage finish in 13th position.
"No problems for me today," said Masuoka. "There were a lot of trees on the track and I just wanted to reach Dakar without problems and do my part for the team."
Spaniards Joan ’Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz started eighth in the running order this morning, but lost 10 minutes before the passage control, slipped to 27th on the stage and eventually finished in 26th position. Roma maintains 13th overall.
"We hit a low tree stump quite hard in a forest on my side of the car about 40km into the stage and it damaged the power steering," said Roma. "I also hurt my thumb in the steering wheel and it was very painful to finish the stage and drive the liaison."
"My feeling is that it is not yet over," said MMSP’s Managing and Sporting Director Dominique Serieys. "We will see tomorrow around midday after the last stage. I am very proud of our entire team that we have reached Dakar. Team work has been superb again this year."
China’s Lui Bin and Thailand’s Pornsiriched reach Dakar in 46th and 67th positions
Frenchman Housieaux leads Mitsubishi privateers in 19th
Novitskiy, Kolberg and Soloviev on track for memorable Dakar finish
Lui Bin/Serge Henninot
China’s Lui Bin and French co-driver Serge Henninot began the last of the longer African special stages in 47th position this morning and was on course to reach the Atlantic coast on his first ever Dakar. He lies 46th overall going into the final stage at Lac Rose on Sunday.
"The goal was to reach Dakar and we have made it here, but the job is not quite finished yet," said Bin. "We have one small stage to go and then we can say we have fulfilled the goal."
Frenchman Dominique Housieaux and co-driver Jean-Michel Polato began the day in 19th place and were 20th fastest into Dakar. They retained their position in the overall standings.
Mana Pornsiriched/Jean Brucy
Thailand’s Mana Pornsiriched and French co-driver Jean Brucy held 67th place as cars left Tambacouda and reached Dakar in 25th position to maintain 67th in the overall standings.
"We hit a small tree this morning and I reallu thought it was going to be a very serious problem," said Pornsiriched. "But the car is very strong and we did no real damage. Now I am very close to the finish and getting excited."
Russian Leonid Novitskiy maintained 20th overall into Dakar and was 15th on the day’ stage.
"Soon it may be time for a small glass of vodka for some of the team," said Novitskiy. "We had another good stage today and that gives me a good feeling for tomorrow."
Brazilian Klever Kolberg began the stage in 58th in the overall standings and finished in a superb 12th overall to maintain his climb up the leader board. Yaroslav Soloviev holds 48th overall after the day’s stage.
Tomorrow (Sunday) should have marked the first time that the Lac Rose section had not counted as a competitive Dakar stage. The special was to have run as a televised Grand Prix-style shoot-out between the leading teams and not counted for the overall classification. But event organisers decided to reinstate the traditional special and teams will tackle a nail-biting 16km of competitive action before the traditional podium finale.
-MMSP
TEAM REPSOL MITSUBISHI RALLIART EASE THROUGH FIRST SENEGALESE STAGE AND MAINTAIN FIRST AND SECOND OVERALL IN 2007 DAKAR RALLY
19 January 2007
Kayes - Tambacounda
Liaison 198kms / SS 260kms
Total 458kms
The Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret began the 13th special stage of the 2007 Dakar Rally between Kayes in Mali and Tambacounda in Sénégal, 6m 29s ahead of team mates Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard, on Friday.
Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret
But the twice former winners of the event extended their overall lead to 11m 15s after setting the second fastest time, behind stage winner Carlos Sainz, on the twisty and narrow special through eastern Sénégal. The two crews are now under instruction from team management to bring the two Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolutions to Dakar without any undue risks over the final two special stages at the weekend.
The organisers had warned that navigation would be tricky on the day’s stage and there would be several carefully monitored speed restriction zones through villages and heavily populated areas. The fact that bike race leader Marc Coma got lost and then crashed was a case in point. It was not a stage to be taken lightly.
"There was some very difficult navigation in the early part of the stage and then a wide track," said Peterhansel. "The end of the stage was very fast. It is much easier to race at higher speeds in the car. Jean-Paul did a great job on the navigation and that was so important. We beat the bikes by around 30 minutes today. This race is never finished until you see the podium. The leader of the motorbikes today was a harsh example of that. It was good to finish the stage.
"Tomorrow is not too long, but I remember the stage was difficult last year and several crews lost a lot of time. We have a good position behind Carlos Sainz on the road. He is fast so we should be okay."
Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard
Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard began the special stage in third position and set the sixth fastest time to conserve second place.
"It is always quite an easy stage when you have the right track," said Alphand. "It was easier for the cars with a co-driver than it was for the bikes. We decided this morning to stay behind Carlos Sainz and Carlos Sousa and behave. Both mirrors and both wings are intact on our car, so that proves we drove very sensibly."
Joan ’Nani’ Roma/Lucas Cruz
Joan ’Nani’ Roma and Lucas Cruz were fifth into the stage in the third Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero Evolution and eventually set the eighth fastest time to retain 13th overall.
"Near the end of the stage I hit a small tree, under braking, and we damaged the front right wing of the car, but it was just panel damage," said Roma. "After that I had one right-hand puncture and that’s where we lost the time. Today was a case of being careful."
Hiroshi Masuoka/Pascal Maimon
Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon were forced to start the stage in 19th place this morning and lost several minutes trailing in Stéphane Henrard’s dust. They set the 15th fastest time.
"For 150km we followed in the dust of the Buggy," said Masuoka. "We tried to get passed but it was not possible. The stage was very difficult. It was narrow and twisty. We passed a Nissan, which had crashed, and we were careful to the finish."
"It was a great shame for Marc Coma in the bike category, but this proves that this race is never finished until you reach the final stage in Dakar," said MMSP’s Managing and Sporting Director Dominique Serieys. "We will stay quiet and very humble. All our drivers are safely through the stage. Our drivers are professional and know that in the interest of Mitsubishi Motors we should try all we can to reach Dakar in the same positions as we are in now."
China’s Lui Bin and Thai Pornsiriched hold 47th and 66th places in Tambacounda
Lui Bin/Serge Henninot
China’s Lui Bin and French co-driver Serge Henninot were classified 49th at the start of the 13th special stage and set the 31st fastest time into Tambacounda. The pair gained two places in the overall classification to 47th.
"We learned from the stage yesterday that these last stages are tiring and it is easy to make a mistake," said Bin. "Now I have one large stage to go and I am beginning to think that we can make it to the finish."
Frenchman Dominique Housieaux and co-driver Jean-Michel Polato began the day in 19th place in the overall standings and set the 19th fastest time.
Mana Pornsiriched/Jean Brucy
Thailand’s Mana Pornsiriched and French co-driver Jean Brucy held 68th overall on the run out of Kayes and finished the stage in a fine 22nd overall. The Thai moved up to 66th place.
"The stage was very narrow," said Pornsiriched. "There were many small trees and it was easy to lose the way. Jean did a good job. He has experience of these stages from his days on a motorcycle."
Russian Leonid Novitskiy finished the special in 18th position and holds 20th overall, while Brazilian Klever Kolberg held 59th overall at the start of the day and finished the stage into Tambacounda in a superb 16th place, just over a minute behind Hiroshi Masuoka. He now holds 57th in the overall standings.
"I just wish that I could have had good stages like this one last week and during the first days on the Dakar," said Kolberg. "Then we would have been looking at a very good result. The object now is just to reach the finish."
Yaroslav Soloviev held 52nd this morning and was 47th into Tambacounda to remain in 52nd place.
"It was a very good day for the entire team," admitted team spokesman Angelo das Sujit. "We had no punctures, no damaged cars, we hit no trees and we don’t have too much work to do on the cars for tomorrow. If only every day was like that on the Dakar!"
The last of the traditional African special stages – a 225km section between Tambacounda and Dakar in Sénégal – takes place tomorrow (Saturday). The route consists of a wide range of twisty and fast roads through villages and populated areas and starts 124km to the west of Tambacounda at the town of Koumpentoum. The route heads north towards Velingara and turns west to a finish near Mbake. A 227km liaison steers teams into Dakar.
-MMSP
