Enraged Gordon says Minis are ‘for girls’

14th January 2012

Robby Gordon has come out fighting after his turbulent week on the Dakar Rally - slamming X-raid Mini rivals Stephane Peterhansel and Nani Roma, insisting his Hummer is legal, and vowing to win every remaining stage.

Gordon is competing under appeal after the organisers ruled that a tyre inflation system on his car was illegal. Technical problems and an incident with Peterhansel also severely delayed him in recent days, but he fought back to win Friday's stage by 15 minutes over Leonid Novitskiy, and over 20 minutes quicker than X-raid's top men.

"I just proved that Minis are for girls, because we beat them by 20 minutes," Gordon declared. "Great stage, great day and the car is fast."

The NASCAR driver has taken to YouTube to argue his case over the exclusion.

"Last night I went through a whole thing and went to YouTube," he said. "You can go to Robby Gordon, Dakar, Air inflation. Check it out, it's posted and explains the whole system.

"It's the same system that the French officials approved one year ago and now they've changed their minds."

Down in fourth overall and too far behind to have a realistic chance of catching leader Peterhansel, Gordon said he just wants to prove a point to his rivals in the closing days.

"We schooled these boys. I'm pissed. I'm pissed. I'm pissed at Stephane and I'm pissed at Nani for challenging my character about being a cheater," he said.

"That right there is completely plugged and I kicked their asses. I'm going to prove something every day for the rest of the rally. We're going to win every special from here home."