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Americans Robbie Gordon and Andy Gilder powered their monster Hummer to its first stage victory in this year’s Dakar Rally on Tuesday, becoming the fourth different stage winners in as many days.
Former Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret (BMW X3) finished second on the 163-km special stage from Fiambala to Copiapo, a single second behind the winners and remain the overall leaders with a gap of 7m 36s to second-placed Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz in their Volkswagen Race Touareg.
Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk of Germany finished the stage in third place, 2m 26s in arrears, with team-mates Sainz and Cruz fourth and 3m 04s behind Gordon.
Al-Attiyah remains in third place overall, 9m 56s behind Peterhansel.
Giniel de Villiers and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz bounced back after yesterday’s disappointment to claim fifth place, 4m 14s behind Gordon.
The defending champions have now moved up two places to 20th overall, 3h 04m 59s behind Peterhansel, after losing nearly three hours on stage three when they stopped with technical problems and had to wait for their assistance team.
American Mark Miller and South African Ralph Pitchford were sixth, 6m 14s behind Gordon, and were followed by Volkswagen team-mates Mauricio Neves and Clecio Maestrelli of Brazil (+11m 22s).
Miller and Pitchford, second in last year’s Dakar Rally in their diesel-powered Race Touareg, remain fourth overall and are now 19m 25s behind Peterhansel.
Multiple South African off road motorcycle and car champion and Dakar legend Alfie Cox continues his good run in the South African-built Nissan Navara he shares with German Jurgen Schroder.
Eleventh place on Tuesday’s stage sees them move up to fifth overall, 59m 30s behind the leaders and 3m 30s ahead of Team Overdrive team-mates Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland and Belgian Jean-Marc Fortin in another SA-built Navara.
De Villiers was pleased with today’s performance and believes he can finish in the top five overall.
"Yesterday was one of these bad days you sometimes get on the Dakar. There are good and bad days here.
"Yesterday in the beginning of the special stage we got stuck with our nose in the dirt and lost six minutes. Then we had an electrical problem. We did not have the parts in the car and we had to wait for our assistance truck to arrive.
"These things happen."
Former Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret (BMW X3) finished second on the 163-km special stage from Fiambala to Copiapo, a single second behind the winners and remain the overall leaders with a gap of 7m 36s to second-placed Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz in their Volkswagen Race Touareg.
Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Timo Gottschalk of Germany finished the stage in third place, 2m 26s in arrears, with team-mates Sainz and Cruz fourth and 3m 04s behind Gordon.
Al-Attiyah remains in third place overall, 9m 56s behind Peterhansel.
Giniel de Villiers and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz bounced back after yesterday’s disappointment to claim fifth place, 4m 14s behind Gordon.
The defending champions have now moved up two places to 20th overall, 3h 04m 59s behind Peterhansel, after losing nearly three hours on stage three when they stopped with technical problems and had to wait for their assistance team.
American Mark Miller and South African Ralph Pitchford were sixth, 6m 14s behind Gordon, and were followed by Volkswagen team-mates Mauricio Neves and Clecio Maestrelli of Brazil (+11m 22s).
Miller and Pitchford, second in last year’s Dakar Rally in their diesel-powered Race Touareg, remain fourth overall and are now 19m 25s behind Peterhansel.
Multiple South African off road motorcycle and car champion and Dakar legend Alfie Cox continues his good run in the South African-built Nissan Navara he shares with German Jurgen Schroder.
Eleventh place on Tuesday’s stage sees them move up to fifth overall, 59m 30s behind the leaders and 3m 30s ahead of Team Overdrive team-mates Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland and Belgian Jean-Marc Fortin in another SA-built Navara.
De Villiers was pleased with today’s performance and believes he can finish in the top five overall.
"Yesterday was one of these bad days you sometimes get on the Dakar. There are good and bad days here.
"Yesterday in the beginning of the special stage we got stuck with our nose in the dirt and lost six minutes. Then we had an electrical problem. We did not have the parts in the car and we had to wait for our assistance truck to arrive.
"These things happen."