Sporting Digest: Rallying

MITSUBISHI, the winners of the last two Paris-Dakar rallies, have withdrawn from this year's event as a protest against the organisers after a shambolic 13th stage. It was halted after 246 kilometres and most of the cars turned back. However, the two Mitsubishis managed to complete the 630km from Atar to Nouadibhou only to discover they faced a 600km trip to the start for yesterday's stage, at which point they pulled out.

PARIS-DAKAR RALLY 17th stage (625km, Bir Anzarane to AS Sakn): Cars: 1 H Auriol (Fr) Citroen 5hr 31min 18sec; 2 P Lartigue (Fr) Citroen +1min 40sec; 3 N Elizarov (Rus) Lada +26:47; 4 T Dalmau (Sp) +33:07; 5 P Wambergue (Fr) +40:14. Overall: 1 Lartigue 37:18.07; 2 Auriol +1:27.34; 3 Wambergue +11:42.15; 4 H Masuoka (Japan) Mitsubishi +13:04.20. Motorbikes: 1 E Orioli (It) Cagiva 6:10.17; 2 J Arcarons (Sp) +1.00; 3 P Briais (Fr) Cagiva +23:35; 4 M Antony (Fr) Cagiva +24:33; 5 F Meoni (It) Honda +31:03. Overall: 1 Orioli 43:17.29; 2 Arcarons +3:40; 3 Meoni +1:27.03; 4 A Cavandoli (It) KTM +4:49.13; 5 P Sireyjol (Fr) Cagiva 6:42.10.