2001 Paris–Dakar Rally

The 2001 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2001 Paris–Dakar Rally, was the 23rd running of the Dakar Rally event. The format was revised to reduce the amount of airborne assistance to competitors in favour of assistance vehicles. The 2001 rally was 6600 miles long and began in Paris, France, on New Year's Day, passing through Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, before finishing at Dakar in Senegal. This was the last Paris-Dakar Rally that commenced and finished in the same locations as the original race. Jean-Louis Schlesser won the penultimate stage of the rally to take the lead but was penalised one hour for unsportsmanlike conduct. The rally was won by German Jutta Kleinschmidt, who became the first woman to win the event. The motorcycle class of the rally was won by Italian Fabrizio Meoni, with Karel Loprais	winning the truck class.

On stage 19, teammates Schlesser and Servia started the stage earlier than scheduled, which meant that race leader Masuoka was left behind the trail of the two buggies. As Masuoka drove off track to overtake Servia, the car was damaged. Masuoka's co-driver, Pascal Maimon, walked to the track to try to stop Servia to complain, Servia braked and nearly ran over him. Schlesser and Servia were given a 60-minute penalty, which gave Kleinschmidt and Masuoka a comfortable lead for the final mini stage.

Stages

 * - Stage cancelled for bikes only due to a sanctioning fee dispute between the race organisers and the Spanish Motorcycle Federation.
 * - Jean-Louis Schlesser set the fastest time for the stage, but was penalised 1 hour and 6 minutes for starting the stage early, along with teammate Jose Maria Servia.
 * Motorcycles principal entry
 * KTM
 * 1 Richard Sainct
 * 3 Fabrizio Meoni


 * 5 Giovanni Sala
 * 7 Kari Tiainen
 * 8 Jordi Arcarons
 * 9 Alfie Cox
 * 10 Jean Brucy
 * 12 Carlo de Gavardo
 * 20 Isidre Esteve Pujol
 * BMW
 * 2 Nani Roma
 * 4 Jimmy Lewis
 * 6 John Deacon
 * 21 Andrea Mayer
 * Honda
 * 14 Johnny Campbell
 * 19 Paulo Manuel Marques
 * Cars principal entry
 * Mitsubishi
 * 201 Jean Pierre Fontenay
 * 203 Kenjiro Shinozuka
 * 205 Jutta Kleinschmidt
 * 207 Miguel Prieto
 * 208 Carlos Souza
 * Schelesser-Renault
 * 200 Jean Louis Schlesser
 * 202 Jose Maria Servia
 * 211 Luc Alphand
 * Nissan
 * 204 Thierry Delavergne
 * 209 Gregoire de Mevius
 * 210 Manuel Plaza Perez
 * Ford
 * 206 Philippe Wambergue
 * Mercedes
 * 213 Pierre Lartigue
 * Trucks principal entry
 * Kamaz
 * 424 Vladimir Chagin
 * 426 Firdaus Kabirov
 * 428 Rafael Tibau
 * Tatra
 * 425 Karel Loprais
 * 427 Andre de Azevedo
 * Hino
 * 400 Yoshimasa Sugawara
 * 403 Gilbert Versino

Motorcycles

 * Source: