After one of the longest stages of the Rally, Robby Gordon brings home a solid third place finish, making it back-to-back podiums for the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER.
The competitors started on a 291KM liaison which led into a 455KM Special. In between the Special was a road section for cars to be serviced on before finishing the final kilometers of the Special. Gordon would met his team, and unfortunately find himself waiting there for too long. Sitting in a comfortable 3rd place, the team discovered that the hatch had taken some burn damage from the exhaust. The team spent more time making sure that this would cause a fire heading into the final legs of the stage. In essence, Gordon would lose 5 minutes in the transfer zone. Luckily it did not take away his 3rd place finish but certainly did not help him gain anything either.
“It was another good Special for us, another podium result for us as a team. Unfortunately, we gave up 5 minutes in the transfer section, and missed a couple of roads near the beginning. Getting beat 13 minutes does not really concern me because it really does not matter, we are just in a mode to get the best results we can and finish the Rally. We have the ability to break into the top 15, top 10 with a lot of cars are dropping out daily. We picked up a ton of spots in just one day, so the HUMMER’s been good. We have had no mechanical failures…just driver and navigational errors that could have been prevented. If we would have just set our pace, we could be sitting here third overall; it’s just a bummer because now we face another 8 long days of pain and wear and tear on the vehicle,” commented Gordon after seeing the overall results following the stage.
Tomorrow we be another shot for Gordon to get his first Stage win of 2013 as he will start in the lead pack again and head to the bivouac of Salta. The Stage will feature high altitudes that cross into Argentina with a 218KM Special.
To follow Gordon and the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires team throughout the legendary Dakar Rally, log onto www.speedenergy.com and www.toyotires.com for race team updates. Fans can also participate in the Dakar Rally experience by connecting on http://www.planetrobby.com and follow along with the team on Facebook and Twitter at: www.facebook.com/
Photos taken by Maindru Photo and Rally World
