Robby Gordon has given Hummer its first-ever Dakar stage victory on the sixth special of the 2007 edition of the event, a 246-mile stretch between Tan Tan in Morocco and Zouerat in Mauritania. The American completed the high-speed section speeds above 115mph were possible in under three hours, beating former winner Jean-Louis Schlesser by 17 seconds. It was Gordon’s third career Dakar stage win, the previous two coming in ’05 when he led the overall standings early in the event as part of Volkswagen’s factory team. The German marque held on to the top spot today, with Carlos Sainz finishing fourth on the stage, 7min17s behind Gordon. The Spaniard is now 3min11s ahead of teammate Giniel de Villiers, with Carlos Sousa in another VW another 11 minutes further back. The Mitsubishis of defending champion Luc Alphand and eight-time winner Stephane Peterhansel round out the top-five. Plagued by early problems, Gordon is now 18th overall, more than four hours adrift of Sainz.(Speed Channel) AND Wind and rain made the night miserable for most of the bivouac on Thursday night but Robby Gordon woke up with a smile on his face. Gordon knew that the conditions would provide perfect racing conditions for the Monster Energy Hummer. In the previous days stage Gordon had charged to a 15th place finish through the dust. Today the dust would be neutralized. During the night the Monster crew worked tirelessly to replace the fuel delivery system along with the clutch, transmission and drive shafts. At the end of the stage, Robby Gordon Motorsports became the first American team to capture a stage in the Dakar Rally. For Gordon it was his third stage win since he started competing in the Dakar in 2005. The stage was won in 2:58:57, just 17 seconds ahead of the second place buggy of Jean Louis Schlesser. The victory moved Team Dakar USA up to 19th in the overall classification – 3:49:07 back of the Volkswagen driven by Carlos Sainz. Robby Gordon’s Quote on the sixth Stage: “That was a good result for the team. It’s just what we needed. We lost two days trying to diagnose the fuel problem, which in the end turned out to be bad fuel. There still is so much racing left so who know what can happen. For now the immediate goal is to get up into the top ten.”(RGM PR)(1-11/12-2007)
