Robby Gordon took a surprise win in the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally, the NASCAR and off-road ace beating overall event leader Stephane Peterhansel by one second.
Although Peterhansel, the winner of yesterday's stage, had looked set to take his 53rd segment win, it was Gordon, starting from 11th, who eventually took the spoils with his Hummer. It was Gordon's first stage win so far this year.
The stage from Flambala to Copiapo was delayed and shortened by 40 kilometers, and was completed in one hour and 40 minutes, as the competitors crossed the Andes.
Despite being upstaged at the finish, BMW X-Raid driver Peterhansel extended his overall lead. The nine-time Dakar winner finished more than two minutes ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah in the quickest of the Volkswagens, the Qatari leading teammate Carlos Sainz home. Last year's winner Giniel de Villiers was fourth today, but the South African is already out of contention after losing nearly three hours in yesterday's stage.
In the overall standings, Peterhansel leads Sainz by seven minutes and 36 seconds, with Al-Attiyah in third nearly 10 minutes behind the Frenchman.
Stage four results:
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Gordon Hummer 01h40m21s
2. Peterhansel BMW + 1s
3. Al-Attiyah Volkswagen + 2m26s
4. Sainz Volkswagen + 3m04s
5. De Villiers Volkswagen + 4m1s
6. Miller Volkswagen + 6m14s
7. Terranova Mitsubishi + 9m06s
8. Baldwin Hummer + 10m53s
9. Novitskiy BMW + 11m4s
10. Neves Volkswagen + 11m22s
Overall standings after stage four:
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Stephane Peterhansel BMW 10h54m50s
2. Carlos Sainz VW + 7m36s
3. Nasser Al-Attiyah VW + 9m56s
4. Mark Miller VW + 19m25s
5. Alfie Cox Nissan + 59m30s
6. Krzysztof Holowczyc Nissan + 1h00m38s
7. Carlos Sousa Mitsubishi + 1h03m00s
8. Robby Gordon Hummer + 1h04m53s
9. Guilherme Spinelli Mitsubishi + 1h16m23s
10. Mauricio Neves Volkswagen + 1h20m35s