Rallying: Desert crash driver taken off critical list following surgery

The winner of the 1997 Paris-Dakar rally, Kenjiro Shinozuka, was taken off the critical list yesterday following surgery to treat head injuries sustained in a crash in this year's event.

The Japanese driver was injured on Thursday when his Mitsubishi overturned after hitting a sand dune during the eighth stage in Libya. He was taken to hospital in Tunis along with his French co-driver Thierry Delli Zotti, who was less seriously injured.

"Shinozuka is considered out of danger," a rally spokesman said. "He had surgery during the night, and his state of health is satisfactory. Thierry Delli Zotti's health is now considered not a problem. He will soon be taken back to France." But Dr Kamel Ayachi, who treated Shinozuka, said he would remain on a ventilator for another 24 to 48 hours.

The Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay piloted his Mitsubishi to victory in yesterday's ninth stage, winning the 354-mile (567km) special stage between Sabha and Zilla in Libya by 53 seconds from the Mitsubishi of his compatriot Stéphane Peterhansel, the overall leader.

Gregoire de Mevius of Belgium was third in a BMW, with Peterhansel's team-mate, Hiroshi Masuoka from Japan, finishing fourth, 11 minutes adrift of the stage winner. Peterhansel was able to gain 10 minutes overall over Masuoka to lead by almost 17 minutes.

The Frenchman Richard Sainct took the race lead in the motorcycle category by winning the stage from fellow KTM rider Fabrizio Meoni of Italy, who was one minute and 44 seconds slower than Sainct on the stage and now trails the Frenchman by just over a minute. Spaniard Joan Roma, who was lying third in the race, has been forced to retire because of a head injury.

Britain's Patsy Quick, on a Honda, began the stage trailing Meoni by over 14 hours in the race standings, but has so far avoided joining fellow British riders Simon Pavey (BMW) and Laurence Noble (Honda) on the list of retirements.