2012 Dakar Rally SPEED Team Stage 9

Great Day for Gordon; End of Rally for Nasser

Iquique, Chile (January 10, 2012) - Robby Gordon and the No. 303 SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER dominated Stage 9 of the 2012 Dakar Rally, winning by 1 minute and 38 seconds over Stephane Peterhansel. Gordon, with the help of his navigator Johnny Campbell, lead the entire stage with 3 MINIs breathing down their necks.

Unfortunately, Nasser Al-Attiyah's day would end completely different. Al-Attiyah encountered the same issue today as he did yesterday when a serpentine belt popped off, not once but three times. Using all of his spares, Al-Attiyah was stranded near KM 200 of the 556 km stage. Being more than an hour down to the overall leader, Al-Attiyah made the tough decision to end his efforts for a repeat championship and dropped out of the stage.

To have the No. 300 Qatar HUMMER withdraw from the race is a huge disappointment, but Team SPEED knows what an accomplishment it is to win two stages and overcome the adversity the team faced during the first half of the rally.

For Gordon and Campbell, the race to become the first Americans to win Dakar lives on. Winning Stage 9 win marks Gordon's 5th special stage victory during a Dakar Rally. Gordon is now only 5 minutes and 58 seconds behind overall leader Stephane Peterhansel with only five stages remaining.

Late after his stage win Gordon commented on how his team have prepared a winning car, "These guys just didn't go to sleep after last years disappointment - they went to work. My guys have flat killed it. They have worked really hard and it's a tough battle. I'm lucky to have a great, great group of guys that are dedicated from the heart - they bleed orange and we're going to have some fun trying to win this rally. I'm sad to see Nasser go but if he doesn't want to drive the car then so be it. It just gives me more support more equipment and three more mechanics to go after this thing."

Team SPEED will work through the night to prepare the No. 303 SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER for Stage 10 of the rally, which will take the competitors from Iquique to Arica.

About SPEED Energy-- SPEED Energy is available in four flavors: Unleaded, Fuel, Ethanol and Octane, which provides the human machine with the fuel it needs to keep up with the SPEED of life. Each drink contains a potent energy blend of B-vitamins, caffeine, taurine and ginseng. SPEED is packaged in 12 ounce sleek cans that have a stylish black top and sexy body and are available in singles, four-packs, and cases. SPEED Energy is available in the United States in major retailers, convenience stores, grocery stores, bars and nightclubs. For more information, please visit speedenergy.com.

Race Coverage-- Follow Team SPEED during the 2012 Dakar Rally on www.speedenergy.com as well as twitter and facebook at www.twitter.com/speed_energy and www.facebook.com/thespeedenergydrink. Daily highlights from each stage can be viewed on the NBC Sports Network (formerly known as Versus) January 1st -- the 15th at 1:30AM Eastern Standard time. Please check your local listings on where to find the NBC Sports Network.

The SPEED Energy APP - featuring exclusive updates of Robby Gordon and his SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires HUMMER during the 2012 Dakar Rally. Follow Robby as he competes in the world's toughest race through Argentina, Chile and Peru. Be the first to hear updates from the driver himself and get exclusive videos and photos during the team's quest to win the coveted Dakar Rally. You'll be able to keep up with Robby during the rally from your iPhone or iPad!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• robby
• gordon
• hummer
• 2012
• dakar
• rally
• chile
• argentina
• toyo
• tires
• speed
• energy
• traxxas
• embee
• wheel
• parts

[MrGeorgecovers]

@gwyllion3 have you taken place on any rally dakar race or organization , etc? because if you did not......i don/t care what you're saying..........its not trustworthy enough

[herar1]

@gwyllion3 and why french officials approved it one years ago?

[meyerbc13]

ASO Damn, is heavy but the word of a corrupt politician and sold than DAKAR judges should have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct when Petterhansel almost hit a motorcycle competitor, but as Petterhansel is French, were made of blind eye and said nothing the judges. TODAY ON THE STAGE 12 ROB IS MADE THAT SHOW THE HAMMER crushed the MINI ... Disconnect the system TIRE INFLATION AND SUPPORT WHAT HE SAID! THE MINI ARE MADE FOR WOMEN AND MEN'S HAMMER ... UP GORDON. AND ABOVE THE HAMMER.

[JayRay61]

ASO bastards... holy shit, can you imagine what this rally would have been like without having RG present???

[gwyllion3]

@MrGeorgecovers Why? Because I read the rule book carefully and Gordon not? The rules do not say "the air restrictor can be bypassed, if it does not give a performance advantage". If he needs a vacuum to deflate his tyres, he should have connected the air line *before* the restrictor plate and not *behind*! It is plain simple. If your car goes so much faster than your competitors, you must be 100% sure that it complies with rules.

[MrGeorgecovers]

How clever.........for once his winning dakar and you want to take him off the race? fuck you french + others suckers on the organization!!

[MrGeorgecovers]

@gwyllion3 you suck!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eliasdiseno1]

WTF...... now they are checking??.

[gwyllion3]

@meyerbc13 Rule 5.1.3 of FIA Article 285 is very clear: "All the air necessary for feeding the engine must pass through a restrictor". The deflation system is connected the air box behind the restrictor and it uses the engine vacuum to suck the air from the tyres more quickly. That means that additional air gets into the engine, bypassing the restrictor. It does not matter if this gives a real performance boost or whether the system has been approved earlier. This is a clear rule infringement.

[meyerbc13]

ROB!... el DAKAR es tuyo! Ganale a los MINI!