On the first day of the New Year, the competitors of the 2012 Dakar Rally prepared for an early start, which took them from the beach city of Mal Del Plata to Santa Rosa de La Pampa. The special stage section was only 57km, making it the shortest racing section of the rally.
Nasser Al-Attiyah would start out with an advantage being the first car on the road, and teammate Robby Gordon would follow off the line in fourth. When the auto class got to the special stage, they would find areas to pass the competition along the coast line and drive into small dunes that represented their first hurdle. In this short section, the fastest time would establish each competitors position in the rankings.
By checkpoint 1 of the Special Stage, Al-Attiyah and Gordon were running first and second, only 9 seconds between them with Peterhansel 51 secs behind. The HUMMERs were off to a great start, proving to be a real contender. Unfortunately only 2km from the finish, Al-Attiyah’s HUMMER lost power. Seeing his teammate on the side of the road, Gordon had no choice but to help the 2011 Dakar Champion cross the finish. With the SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER towing the Qatar/Toyo Tires HUMMER, Gordon ended up losing valuable seconds, resulting in him being the third car to finish. He ended up fifth based on corrected time. Al-Attiyah’s finish will be determined at a later time due to the fact he had assistance. Stage 2 will have a Special Stage of 290km and 487km of Liaison starting in Santa Rosa de la Pampa and ending in San Rafael where Gordon will start in 5th and Nasser’s position in 30th, 9 minutes and 45 seconds back of the leader.(RGM)
To follow the team’s journey to compete in the upcoming Dakar, and for updated race team coverage, log onto speedenergy.com, toyotires.com, robbygordon.com, planetrobby.com and dakar.com.(1-2-2012)
