06 January 2003 - 15:12 Kenjiro Shinozuka puts Nissan in the lead

Since Monday, a sort of effervescence has overtaken the NISSAN RALLY RAID TEAM… The whole Nissan “family” met up at the Nissan Cap Janet dealership in Marseille, where the team presentation took place. As well as the five official Pickup vehicles and the backup trucks and cars, the six Terrano cars prepared by Andrй Dessoude for various private teams were also present.

For the start of this 25th edition of the Dakar, Mr Kenichi Sasaki, President of Nismo, and Mr Kozo Watanabe made the journey from Japan especially to encourage the whole team. Everyone took the opportunity to see the New Year in, before getting down to the serious work, which began on Wednesday, in Marseille. The prologue took place after dark, on the circuit laid down in the Chanot Park, running on two parallel tracks.

This prologue proved a perfect opportunity for the Nissan Rally Raid Team to get off to a good start, with Kenjiro Shinozuka setting the best time, putting Nissan in the lead of the rally. Ari Vatanen set the 10th fastest time, just ahead of Giniel de Villiers. Thierry de Lavergne and Khalifa Al Mutaiwei finished in 17th and 18th places respectively.

Shinozuka, delighted with his performance, admitted that he had been rather careful :

“The special stage was short, but it was a good way to start the rally. I am pleased with this first place, but I must say that I was very careful over the jumps, and I was also following Masuoka's performance, out of the corner of my eye !!!”

Ari Vatanen also appears to have dived right into the event:
“This is pure pleasure for me ! I am very pleased that the event has started at long last … I am back in my element…. I was very careful during this short stage, especially over the bumps. The Dakar is far from over, and it is important to take care of the car…”

Taking part in the event for the first time, Giniel de Villiers is also very much aware of the length of this epic race:
“The special stage was not particularly thrilling. Jumps and more jumps. I am pleased it is over. We have got underway, which is the main thing; the race will be far from restful. It will be important to keep the wear on the vehicle to a minimum.”

After the special stage, the competitors continued with a liaison stage towards Narbonne, with two checkpoints : one at Salon-de-Provence and the other in Nоmes. Tomorrow, after 21 km of liaison, the serious work will begin with a 43-km special stage, on an extremely technical track in the Corbiиres Massif.

CLASSIFICATION - PROLOGUE (MARSEILLE)
1 201 SHINOZUKA / DELLI - ZOTTI NISSAN PICKUP 01' 43"
2 206 PETERHANSEL / COTTRET MITSUBISHI + 00' 01"
3 200 MASUOKA / SCHULZ MITSUBISHI + 00' 01"
4 207 BIASION / SIVIERO MITSUBISHI + 00' 03"
5 215 HENRARD / WILLIS VOLKSWAGEN + 00' 06"
6 202 FONTENAY / PICARD MITSUBISHI + 00' 07"
7 214 MAGNALDI / LAVIEILLE HONDA PROTO + 00' 08"
8 208 SCHLESSER / LURQUIN SCHLES-FORD + 00' 08"
9 209 SERVIA / OLLER CARBO SCHLES-FORD + 00' 09"
10 204 VATANEN / THORNER NISSAN PICKUP + 00' 10"
11 217 DE VILLIERS / MAIMON NISSAN PICKUP + 00' 10"
12 203 KLEINSCHMIDT / PONS MITSUBISHI + 00' 11"
...
24 210 DE LAVERGNE / DUBOIS NISSAN PICKUP + 00' 17"
25 218 AL MUTAIWEI / MONNET NISSAN PICKUP + 00' 18"

raid-live.com, 02/01/03