Dakar exclusion threat for Gordon

11th January 2012

By Giles Wade

Robby Gordon, whose hopes of winning Dakar 2012 suffered a huge blow when he went off the road and damaged his Hummer nearing the end of stage 10 in Chile today, is facing possible exclusion from the gruelling cross-country rally.

The American had cut Stephane Peterhansel’s lead to less than six minutes with his first stage victory on Tuesday only for a reported clash with the Frenchman to cost him 14 minutes after he struck a rock and sustained two punctures and damaged suspension. But his delay today will pale into insignificance if his appeal against exclusion following an alleged technical infringement is unsuccessful.

“I was passing him [Peterhansel], he didn't move over and I clobbered a rock and got two flat tyres at the same time,” Gordon told Dakar.com. “We've got our work cut out. We've got a damaged race car that we're going to have work on and there's a lot of damage from what I can see. Now we'll push, push, push even harder.”

Peterhansel responded by saying:“He was really fast on a very short corner to the left, very tight, and he went straight on and jumped off a small cliff. I was sure that he rolled, but when I saw again through the dust he was on his wheels.”

Gordon has slipped from second to third in the overall standings, 19m51s behind the X-raid Mini of Peterhansel. Even if he can narrow the Frenchman’s advantage he might not be running by the time the event concludes in Peru on Sunday if his appeal against exclusion from the rally is unsuccessful.

His predicament relates to a technical inspection following Tuesday’s special. A statement from the event organisers read: “On completion of the ninth, following observation of technical non-compliance on vehicle number 303 (Robby Gordon) (article 1P and 3P of the technical rules), the Car Race Officials' Committee has decided to disqualify number 303 from the race. The driver has appealed against this decision. During appeals, decisions are placed on hold. As a result, vehicle number 303 will continue the rally until the outcome of the appeal.”

If Gordon is excluded it will represent another huge blow to the Hummer team, which lost its second entry on Tuesday when Nasser Al-Attiyah retired the sister car following the onset of serious mechanical problems.

Gordon’s misfortune today allowed Spanish X-raid Mini driver Nani Roma to move into second place overall, 19m05s behind team-mate Peterhansel.