Robby Gordon Presses On in Dakar Rally with Eleventh Place Finish in Stage Eleven

20160106: San Juan-Argentina:

SAN JUAN, Argentina (January 14, 2016) – Robby Gordon and Kellon Walch survived another very difficult special on Thursday, during Stage 11 of the 38th Annual Dakar Rally. Navigating the specially built HST Gordini Supercar through complex portions of heavy sand, high-speed gravel roads, and dust the duo safely reached the stage finish in the eleventh position.

20160106: San Juan-Argentina:

Starting the challenging stage in the fifteenth position, Gordon raced out to a blistering pace tearing through the bumps and dust to advance comfortably into the ninth position by km 100.

“The course started rough, almost like whoops, and it really favored the Gordini with the big Toyo Tires on it,” explained navigator Kellon Walch. “Then we started to get into the bottom of river beds and the route was faster and smoother.”

Flirting with the top ten throughout the special Gordon kept a consistent pace of the leaders, not taking any risks of damaging the Toyo Tires/TRAXXAS Gordini. As any experienced Dakar racer knows taking the checkered flag in Rosario on Saturday to finish the 13-stage race is just as important and claiming a stage victory.

Gordon finished the stage in the eleventh position, with a time of 5 hours, 11 minutes, and 54 seconds. Only 22 minutes, and 38 seconds behind defending Dakar Rally Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar, whom claimed his second stage win of 2016, finishing Stage 11 in a time of 4 hours, 49 minutes, 16 seconds.

Early overall leader Sebastien Loeb claimed the second spot with a time of 4 hours, 55 minutes, 08 seconds. While Mikko Hirvonen of Finland rounded out the podium with a time of 4 hours, 56 minutes, and 17 seconds. Frenchman Stephan Peterhansel was credited with fourth in a time of 4 hours, 57 minutes, 21 seconds, with Saudi Arabia driver Yazeed Alrajhi would claim his second top-five of the rally with a time of 5 hours, 1 minute, and 13 seconds.

After eleven grueling stages of the 2016 Dakar Rally, Peterhansel holds the overall lead over second place Al-Attiyah by 51 minutes, and 55 seconds. While South African Ginel De Villers claim’s the third position 1 hour, 17 minutes, 24 seconds back, followed by Hirvonen in the fourth position 1 hour, 22 minutes, 47 seconds behind. LeeRoy Poulter rounds out the top five with a time of 1 hour, 33 minutes, 58 seconds.

Robby Gordon’s eleventh place finish today moves into the twenty-seventh position in the overall standings 10 hours, 38 minutes, and 55 seconds behind the winning pace of Peterhansel.

Friday the cars will race from San Juan to Villa Carlos Paz in Stage 12. The longest stage of rally (900 km) will start with an exceptionally long liaison, which despite the slower speeds, will still put additional stress on the already strained race engines and drivers. The first transfer section is followed by the 481-kilometer timed race through the semi-mountainous terrain, lined with vegetation on both sides of the course making it super tight in locations.

Follow the quest for an American finish in the 2016 Dakar Rally for Team SPEED through live timing and scoring as well as live updates with chat at http://www.planetrobby.com and http://www.StadiumSuperTrucks.com

NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will provide daily highlights after each stage of the 2016 Dakar Rally at 5:30 p.m. ET. Check your local listings for exact time and channel for availability.

Photos from Stage 11 can be downloaded from the following link:

https://app.box.com/s/09ykpf3kwo977aw4r86bxu4jld17n63y

Team SPEED is supported by the following partners; SPEED Energy, Toyo Tires, TRAXXAS, KMC Wheels, Arctic Cat, 4 Wheel Parts, Grand Design Recreational Vehicles, Magnaflow Exhaust, Eibach Springs, King Shocks, Outlaw LED, Mastercraft Safety, Holley Performance, Embee Performance, MAC Tools, DeWALT, Freightliner Trucks, Replay XD, Valvoline, Impact by Mastercraft Safety, Lincoln Electric, Torchmate by Lincoln Electric, Ron Davis Racing Products, Techni Waterjet, Mechanix Wear, Saftey-Kleen, Weddle Industries, and Loctite.

Stage 12: San Juan – Villa Carlos Paz

Cars
Special Section: 481 km
Total: 931 km

There is more than 900 km to cover on the day before the finish, including more than half in the special section, with the exception of the trucks, whose dimensions are not suitable for some of the tracks on the agenda. In this semi-mountainous terrain, the vegetation that lines their edges might be a bit tight for them! This means that the other vehicles will also have to show dexterity. Fans of pure driving will be at ease, but they’ll have to watch out for blunders: at this stage in the game, a mistake could cost them dearly.

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