Fiambalá, Argentina – The organization has again decided to cancel the remaining kilometers of Stage 11 due to flash flooding in the area. As a result, Robby Gordon was declared the winner since he was the leader at Checkpoint 1, where the organization decided to red flag the race.
“We won the stage, so today was a good special for us. It could have been a great special for us. I am sure we could have beat most of the cars by 30 minutes or more. It is a shame they had to cancel it because of weather since we would have climbed the standings today. The flooding was not too bad when we got to it; it was only about a foot or two high. Not a big deal, I mean I thought this was the Dakar, the toughest race in the world…it seems like they have lost sight of that this year,” commented a slightly disappointed Gordon even though he won the stage because he knew there was still more time to be gained on his competition.
Even though, the race was stopped shortly after KM75, Gordon and Walch kept on racing till the 125 mark where a helicopter stopped them in the middle of the stage, declaring that the rest of the Special had been canceled. Tomorrow’s Stage 12 takes the Rally back into Chile, crossing over the Andes Mountains and beginning a 319KM Special that ends in Copiapó.
Through 11 Stages of the 2013 Dakar Rally, Robby Gordon and the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER sits in the top twenty overall in the standings capturing eight top-ten finishes, six different podiums, and one stage win. With only three stages remaining, Gordon will be pushing the SPEED Energy HUMMER hard looking to gain as many positions in the standings as possible while gunning for all three Stage wins.
To follow Gordon and the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires team throughout the legendary Dakar Rally, log onto www.speedenergy.com and www.toyotires.com for race team updates.