Stage 1 report - Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa




Buenos Aires, Argentina (January 4, 2009) – Team Dakar USA came in very optimistic to the inaugural stage of the 2009 Dakar Rally. The stage consisted of very fast narrow roads with sharp unforgiving turns.
The terrain favored the 4wd cars that are smaller and more nimble. Stage 2 was fast and extremely dusty, there was no wind to help out the drivers that started behind the leader giving them the disadvantage. The Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer driven by Robby Gordon finished seventeenth. Gordon completed the stage in two hours fifteen minutes and forty seconds. Fourteen minutes and twenty five seconds behind the stage winner Al Attiyah. “I was very surprised to finish seventeenth, we were one minute down the leaders at check point one and three minutes behind at check point two,” said Robby Gordon. “We then lost 11 minutes in the last one third of the stage, it was extremely dusty and I was very cautious passing the motorcycles,” stated Gordon. “I have a hard time believing I was that conservative knowing my driving style” commented Robby Gordon.

The Vanguard Hummer driven by Eric Vigouroux finished twenty sixth with a time of three hours one minute and six seconds. Twenty four minutes and fifty two seconds behind the stage winner. “We felt good at the start of the race, after twenty kilometers we reached the car in front of us, then at check point two we had a very strange flat tire” said Vigouroux “We lost five minutes, it was very dusty with no room to pass and we decided not to make a costly mistake” stated Vigouroux.


The second stage will start in Santa Rosa and finishes in Puerta Madryn Argentina. This will be the longest stage of the rally but certainly not the most difficult one. Stage 2 will rely heavily on the co driver; they will need to pay special attention
to the course. The stage will consist a total of 837Km and 237Km racing. The Dakar Rally can be seen in the United States on the Versus Network and daily updates will be posted on RobbyGordon.com.