Japanese driver fights for life after dune crash

The winner of the 1997 Paris-Dakar rally, Kenjiro Shinozuka, was in a coma fighting for his life after a crash on yesterday's eighth stage of this year's rally.

The 54-year-old, Japan's most distinguished rally driver, and his French co-driver, Thierry Delli-Zotti, were both seriously hurt when their Nissan pick-up went over a sand dune halfway through the 311-mile stage between Ghat and Sabha in Libya.

"Shinozuka is now in a coma with a serious facial concussion," the rally doctor Christian Noel said. "His life is in danger. We'll have to wait for 24 or 48 hours to, hopefully, give better news." He added that Delli-Zotti, 38, was in much better shape.

Shinozuka, who also finished third last year, had been in third place overall after Wednesday's seventh stage. He made his rally debut in 1967 and became the first Japanese driver to complete the Kenyan Safari Rally in 1976.

After claiming the Asia Pacific rally championship in 1988 he moved on to the world stage, competing in the world championship from 1989 to 1994 and again in 1996. His victory in the 1991 Ivory Coast Rally was the first by a Japanese driver and, with co-driver John Meadows, he repeated the victory the next year.

The Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel, in a Mitsubishi, retained the lead among cars despite placing second in the stage behind his team-mate Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan.

The Italian Fabrizio Meoni held a 34-second lead in the motorcycle category over his fellow KTM rider Richard Sainct, from France. Derrick Edmondson (KTM) is the top British rider, in 40th after Italy's Giovani Sala kept up KTM's winning streak by taking the stage eight victory in just over four and a half hours.

Edmondson's compatriot Mick Extance lies 64th overall among the motorcycles, seven hours adrift, after finishing 88th on his Honda. His fellow Briton Nick Plumb finished 84th on his BMW to lie 108th.