Why did Robby Gordon get a 15 minute penalty on Stage 8?

It now shows Robby 14th for todays stage, what's up?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Team Maranello on January 11, 2009 at 8:13pm

MORE DETAILS ON THE DAY. LOOKS LIKE IT WAS NOT FUN
The No. 309 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer was third to start today's stage. Early in the race, Robby Gordon got stuck against a rock when crossing a dried river bed. Even though he was able to get going after a few minutes, he still lost valuable time to the leaders. The day continued to get worse for Gordon and navigator Andy Grider when they broke a set of headers, causing two spark plug wires to burn. Fortunately, the pair finished the day in the eighth position, 23:40 minutes behind stage winner and class leader, Carlos Sainz. The No. 309 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer is still fifth in the overall standings, trailing by 1 hour, 32 minutes.

The No. 324 Vanguard Hummer started seventh. Like Gordon, Eric Vigouroux also experienced problems early in the stage when he lost a transmission. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem that the No. 324 faced. Shortly after losing the transmission, the Vanguard Hummer rolled, resulting in significant cosmetic damage.

"Well, I am upset with today's occurrences. After a thorough service on both race vehicles yesterday, I really thought that Team Dakar USA would have had a better day. But, the terrain was not very good today for the Hummers. It was very similar to a WRC course with many turns and gravel roads, which was not ideal for the Hummers. The time that we lost today was very costly for our team, but we will go to work tonight replacing the headers on the Monster Energy Hummer and repairing the damage on the Vanguard Hummer. I expect Team Dakar USA to rebound from today and have a good showing the next couple days. If we can do that and the leaders experience problems, we still have a shot to win the Dakar Rally. I also think that the No. 324 can finish inside the top-20," commented Robby Gordon on today's special.

Permalink Reply by DB on January 12, 2009 at 2:58am

If it was for not letting someone pass, it'nd that a oxymoron- not letting someone pass in a race- and getting penalized for it, guess that's why they call it a Rally, I know, I don't know shit about Dakar, and it's pry like they said- one line WRC style course, but if your faster, than why you behind, get it done- understand it now though, If people started moving people out of the way, they'd need flagger's all over, Caution-Nascar all over
'

Permalink Reply by zoomsss on January 12, 2009 at 3:16am

Can penalties be appealed?
Listened to the audio on driver complaining, in mountain pass, no way to get around, guy didn't want to take chance running into rocks or off a cliff, how does he think Robby with a wider vehicle would be able to make room for a pass but to finally 'take the wrong route' and the guy is able to get around Robby?
Seems like the guy calculated that he lost 5 minutes being 'supposedly' held up over 100-something+ KM.

Permalink Reply by zoomsss on January 12, 2009 at 5:37am

A towel for the whiners please!!! Just reading a Robby alert and found this from BMW camp.

LA SERENA (Chile): X-raid's Sails Capital Racing Team's Guerlain Chicherit set the sixth fastest time on the eighth 294km special stage along Chile's Pacific Coast from Valparaiso to La Serena on Sunday, despite being blocked in the dust of America's Robbie Gordon for around 130km.

But Argentine team mate Orlando Terranova lost over 70 minutes with a minor electrical sensor problem, as Rene Kuipers and Leonid Novitskiy brought their BMW X3 CCs to the stage finish in 12th and 14th overall, Kuipers duly climbing to a superb ninth overall on his first Dakar.

"Orly had a minor sensor problem, but Guerlain lost a lot of time behind Robbie Gordon," said team director Sven Quandt. "I am quite happy with today though. Rene is driving well and this shows that going steady can be a very successful strategy."

The French duo of Chicherit and Matthieu Baumel were quickly into a competitive pace on the morning's stage and were running third behind Dieter Depping and Carlos Sainz at the 49km point, but slipped to sixth through 180km and the first passage control.

"For me the second week of the rally opens up new opportunities to set some fast times," admitted Chicherit. "I would dearly like to win two or three stages and, especially the long loop stage which everyone thinks will be the hardest of them all. But it was not possible today."

"We caught Robbie Gordon after 60km and stayed behind him for 130km," added co-driver Baumel. "There were a lot of hairpins and we could not get past. But he knew we were there. We were able to say 'hello' some times! He never moved. Then Giniel caught us after 150km and we both stayed behind him. We could have been so much faster today. It is very unfair." .... ~ BMW X-raid stage eight report

Permalink Reply by jack on January 12, 2009 at 5:47pm

I think the penalty has been dropped or my math is wrong.. When I add up the times for Robby after todays overall. They don't have the 15 minute penalty. Plus when they usually keep the Penalty on the right of the overall stage to show the penalty is figured in.

Permalink Reply by zoomsss on January 13, 2009 at 12:33am

I was just figuring that too Jack... the 15 minutes only shows on 'stage' numbers for that day, not OA of Stage8 or OA of Stage9. I was told a running total of all penalties for the event is carried on the OA each day.
I would guess it can be contested or appealed then... good, I'm glad it's gone!!!