Gordon pips Peterhansel to win Dakar fourth stage

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-07 09:06

COPIAPO, Chile: American Robby Gordon (pictured) won the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally cars category on Tuesday, a 163 km special stage from Fiambala in northern Argentina to Copiapo in Chile.

Gordon, driving a Hummer, came in an astonishing one second ahead of BMW's Stephane Peterhansel of France, the overall race leader.

Peterhansel held off Qatari rival Nasser Al-Attiyah by 2min 25sec and Spaniard Carlos Sainz - likewise of Volkswagen - by 3min 3sec and is still more than seven minutes ahead of closest challenger Sainz.

"Today was a fast stage with fast off-road sections, which means you have to keep your eyes on danger," said Peterhansel.

"It was tough; we had to watch out. When you have designed a car - all year long - you do hope it performs and delivers in technology, in the sand dunes, everywhere.

"But nothing is ever certain. So far however the car is not driving too bad."

After seeing his Hummer restricted by the tighter roads in Argentina, Gordon could let it loose on the more open terrain of stage four to claim his first win of the this edition.

Despite negotiating 163km of jumps and slaloms around camel grass, his win is likely to stir up memories of 2007 when he won his first special stage on similarly vast terrain in Zouerat, Mauritania.

The American, however, is not celebrating yet.

"A stage victory means nothing to us. It's the final victory we are in for," he said.

"I was very careful during the first two days and yesterday (Monday) we lost one hour. I am sure today we managed to climb up in the standings and we will see how Chile will treat us.

"Today's special stage was perfect for us with a lot of camel grass. It's on this type of terrain that the Hummer is doing great."

KTM rider Marc Coma won the fourth stage of the motorcycling category after coming in 2min 4sec ahead of Frenchman David Casteu of Sherco.

Another Frenchman, Cyril Despres of KTM, who was third on the day 3min 14sec off the pace, retained his overall lead.

Coma's win was his ninth stage victory in the race and allows him to close the gap slightly on Despres, although the Spaniard is still upset about losing more than 40 minutes in two days due to penalties and a grumbling engine.

Thanks to his performance in the first day of racing in the Hautacam desert, the Spaniard moves up three places to sixth overall at 36:50 behind Despres.

"It was an important day after the bad results and the bad luck," said Coma. "We got our good habits back and we got back on the right track. It's good for the morale of the team after a few bad days. The strategy is something you do each day. We will make the most of the race, climb in the standings and move forward ... till the end. We won't let our guard down."

AFP