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 6,600 miles (10,600 km) long and began in Paris, France, on New Year's Day, passing through Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali before finishing at Dakar in Senegal. 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.
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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, he got the car damaged. Masuoka codriver 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 comppfortable lead for the final mini stage.