Robby Gordon responds to Peterhansel calling him a cheater

SPEED Energy Racing Transcript:


Robby Gordon talks about entering the 2013 Dakar Rally after one of his competitors makes a comment about him and his HUMMER

PETERHANSEL COMMENTING ON ROBBY GORDON ENTERING THE 2013 DAKAR RALLY:

“This is a cheater born, we are here to compete, not for show race, and this is not the circus, even if it pleased the audience.”
“We must fight on equal terms, Robby Gordon must comply with the rules. If this is the case, it is welcome. Otherwise. Not!”

PETERHANSEL IS NOT ONLY CALLING YOU A CHEATER BUT CALLING YOU A SHOWMAN RATHER THAN A RACER, HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO THAT?

RG: I take that personal, the fact he is calling me a cheater or my team a cheater. We explained our system last year to A.S.O. at initial technical inspection and we did not change anything from that day of initial tech on our car until the day they saw our car, saying it wasn't legal. With all that said what Peterhansel needs to understand is this is the entertainment business and it is not just about racecars. If it was just about racecars we would all be driving diesel powered Mini’s and they would sound like a bunch of sewing machines.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT HIM TALKING ABOUT FIGHTING ON EQUAL TERMS?

RG: We are really excited to go to the Dakar, last year A.S.O. can say we were disqualified, but to be honest with you at the end of the day we finished 5th and it wasn’t worth fighting with them. So we'll accept whatever we have to accept, but in regards to Peterhansel and playing fair and square, we played by the rules A.S.O. told us we could play by last year and they came and inspected our cars for 2013 and we are ready for the challenge. Last year if you take out the stages I had to tow Al-Attiyah around we would have been easily ahead of Peterhansel at that point. This year our car is even better fine tuned, we’ve had more time to work on it. Even with the inflation disconnected last year, I want to remind Peterhansel that we beat him 10-15 minutes a day when we wanted to go. So he's going to have to tighten his seat belts and we are ready for the battle. There is STILL nothing Monster, about his Mini!

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Permalink Reply by Short Bus on December 30, 2012 at 9:25pm

Check out the comment from Giniel De Villers - see bold. They all want in on the trash talking.

“Honestly, I was very happy with our performance in 2012. We couldn't have hoped for better. This 3rd place was like a victory for us. Since then we have improved quite a few things on the car and have made many advances. We had to improve our torque problem in the sand to gain in terms of performance. We have also changed the rear suspension. I am impatient to see how it does in the rally. We are not the favourites. The X-Raid team certainly has the best drivers and although the regulations have been changed, their stock motor is still the best. I would be happy if we are competitive with the Minis. If that is the case, we will have a chance to win. After the first 3 or 4 stages we will have a better idea about our chance of winning.”

Permalink Reply by RICK ALDRIDGE on December 31, 2012 at 4:39pm

I really don't think this is a shot at Robby. Just the Euro mindset that only the factory or branded 4 wheel drive teams matter. Remember his comment also leaves out Saintz and Nasser so certainly 3 of the best drivers in the world. Win or lose, they just dont consider unbranded 2 wheel drive as their competition.

Permalink Reply by PathfinderCS on December 31, 2012 at 4:47pm

Agreed; and I doubt Giniel would be one to trash talk Robby like that. Out of all the teams out there (and that includes RGM, the Team Overdrive Toyotas, and Nasser's buggies) it is X-Raid that has the best chance for success. Doesn't mean they will succeed; but a team with the resources of X-Raid will usually be favorites. Overdrive, RGM, and Nasser certainly have a fair shot of it though!

Permalink Reply by RICK ALDRIDGE on December 31, 2012 at 5:17pm

Also interesting that Nasser had to start his own effort. I assumed his Citro contract would have included a big Dakar effort but they didnt show. I dont follow european rally... anyone know what happened?

Permalink Reply by PathfinderCS on December 31, 2012 at 5:21pm

I'm not sure how long the original contract was; but Nasser will be driving a Ford in the WRC in 2013. After Ford pulled it's factory support from the WRC, the M-Sport team signed a deal with Qatar. Nasser will be driving in most of the races (not a full-season effort) while two others will drive the full WRC season.

As it stands I don't see Nasser having to deal with manufacturer conflicts.

Permalink Reply by RICK ALDRIDGE on December 31, 2012 at 11:04pm

So I wonder why they didnt run Dakar and use their cars instead of Jeffries buggys. Maybe this years course has changed enough to Robby friendly sand that the Ford wrc car wouldn't be competitive.

Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on December 31, 2012 at 11:30pm

WRC cars wouldn't be competitive,simply not enough suspension travel or fuel capacity.
And not just for this years event , but for as long as I can remember.

Permalink Reply by pdxracefan on December 31, 2012 at 11:40pm

I think the only WRC type cars that ever had success were the high modified Porsche 959's (which as I think about it wasn't really a WRC car at all), and the Peugeot 405's which started life as a WRC 205.

Permalink Reply by PathfinderCS on December 31, 2012 at 11:45pm

Outside of the Safari Rally, there is no way WRC-spec rally cars would be even remotely competitive at the Dakar; especially the desert portion and that goes for most if not all other CCR/Rally Raid events. A good example of this is Mini itself and the comparison to the Mini John Cooper Works WRC and the X-Raid Mini All4 Racing Dakar machine. Both being based in the Mini Countryman; the differences are quite eye-opening.

Dakar/CCR - http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jWMVn8Un0Lg/TxX-5IkiJ1I/AAAAAAAGdko/eHHnN...

WRC - http://beyondtheredline.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/sordo-mini-wrc.jpg

Permalink Reply by GILLES GAUTHIER on January 1, 2013 at 8:04am

Nasser is a good rider I agree, but sometime forget to drive with his head, he's broken so many time in all team where he drove, he's Qatar sponsor that help alot for find team about Desert race it's often the rider which drive with his head the winner and for WRC that will be more true again, all mistakes that pay cash, Rally raid like Dakar is completly different, it's long, you need a very strong truck, a very strong team, a great experience, to can drive very fast at 80% for have all time a margin and all that during 3 weeks and even if you've all that you must have chance at your side. Many years ago big teams had rally cars (like wrc) modified for Dakar but other truck was only small orginal truck like Toyota or Nissan and not Tundra or Titan but like Hi Lux or Pathfinder...now it's completly different and when everybody will understand than US Dersert chassis with long travel is the way of futur for this race may be European brand will make the choice to just put their body on US truck like WV has make for the Baja 1000

Permalink Reply by Dave Horwath on December 31, 2012 at 5:24pm

I find it funny that the Dakar rider sheet doesn't have a picture of Robby or his Hummer...I guess they couldn't find one?!

Permalink Reply by Kevin Meyer on December 31, 2012 at 5:34pm

They will be getting updated pictures from the tech days I assume.

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