Robby Gordon racing at 95% so far

IInterview from France 24 with Robby Gordon after stage 10.

FRANCE 24 - Are you frustrated about this second place?

Robby Gordon - Not really. We know where we are. It was very fast and we did what we had to do.

FRANCE 24 - Your Hummer is appropriate for the stages in the desert like this one. Do you think you’ve ruined your last chance to win a stage?

Robby Gordon - I’ve raced at 95% of my pace so far, Carlos (Sainz) is at 100% since the beginning. Maybe he’ll break something…And it’s still a long way to go. The car is in a perfect shape and the team is very good, so why not?

FRANCE 24 - What are your objectives now ?

Robby Gordon - Nani (Roma, fourth in the overall standings, editor's note) is 20 minutes ahead of us, we are going to try to catch up with him. But right now we are thinking about 2007 and how much we improved since then.

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Permalink Reply by Lance on January 14, 2009 at 12:44pm

But a certain amount of bad luck has to happen to the VW's for Robby to win because in a straight up fight, the turbo's are going to beat him. Depending upon bad luck isn't his strategy, it's just the situation. Driving over your head and wrecking halfway through the Dakar is not going to do anything to help your cause. Robby is taking every stage one stage at a time and getting the best finish out of it. That's all you can do. He's doing a great job and will be back next year even better prepared.

I'm hoping for a Robby stage win or two and a top 3 finish, which I think is very possible and would be incredible considering he's competing against factory VW, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and BMW.

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Permalink Reply by RGordonNo#1 on January 14, 2009 at 1:51pm

Robby can't go 100%, his Racing Truck is out of the race, his only fall back is Eric in the 2nd Hummer, if he breaks and Eric does not find him he is out of the race. Better to finish than to drop out.

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Permalink Reply by natron008 on January 14, 2009 at 2:02pm

PERHAPS he'll be running an FJ Cruiser next year and that will help even him up with the others. Their program is obviously solid, and they've done a good job with mechanical stability. It will suck for him to have to change to something else for next year, but maybe putting him in a vehicle that's closer to the others will allow him to truly show his superiority as a driver.

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Permalink Reply by Mike/WC77 on January 14, 2009 at 5:24pm

1. RGFan is right, RG's not going to switch his o-r program, unless GM breaks their contract.
2. The whole Hummer would't go to scrap if the switched manufactures. That'd be like saying he's dumping his COT chassis cuz they cradled Dodge motors,& Charger noses. The FJ's dimensions aren't that far off of the H3. More that likely, it'd be body,& driveline change only.

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Permalink Reply by Mike/WC77 on January 14, 2009 at 6:08pm

OK here's the answer to that one. RG didn't build the H3 because he couldn't run a VW. He built it because he hated the suspension in the VW. So IMO, he won't go imitating them now. He'll look for more power out of the LS7.