PARIS, Jan 17 - Hiroshi Masuoka took advantage of German Jutta Kleinschmidt getting ``a bit lost'' to win the 13th stage of the Dakar rally on Friday.
The Japanese Mitsubishi driver, whose previous best was second in the second stage, beat Kleinschmidt's Buggy by just 19 seconds after a tough 604-km stage, difficult to navigate over wet sand and dunes, from Nema to Kiffa in Mauritania.
``I was in front after the second control post and I had come over the dunes fine, although we had been reduced to two-wheel drive and in the last 100 kms we got a bit lost,'' Kleinschmidt said.
``Our lead, which must have been more than a minute, immediately disappeared and Masuoka profited.''
The top four places overall, all occupied by Mitsubishis with Masuoka fourth, did not change while Kleinschmidt retained fifth place.
But Japanese Kenjiro Shinozuka increased his overall lead from 23 seconds to nearly five minutes over second-placed Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay.
Saturday's penultimate stage takes the rally back into Senegal -- 751 kms to Saint-Louis, with a 166-km special.
The motorcycle section also produced a first time stage winner -- Frenchman Eric Bernard on a KTM in his first Dakar rally.
Bernard said when he and some KTM team mates caught up with the Yamaha riders, including overall leader Stephane Peterhansel, they followed in their tracks.
``They opened up the route for us. I stayed in the tracks of Stephane Peterhansel. He's really impressive in the dunes. He always rides at the same speed, never stops to find his way.''
Frenchman Peterhansel, four times Dakar winner, is more than two and a half hours ahead of second-placed Spaniard Oscar Gallardo on a Cagiva.
