American driver Robby Gordon may be competing racing under appeal but he won Friday the 12th special stage of the 2012 Dakar rally raid.
Stage 12 took the drivers from Arequipa to Nasca, Peru, and included a special stage of 245km.
Gordon arrived in Mazca with an amazing time of 2h14m32s, meaning he finishes 15m18s ahead of the previous best performer of the day, Russian driver Leonid Novitskiy.
To the Hummer driver's credit, he pushed constantly and made no mistakes in the dunes. With the leaders aiming at protecting their leads in the general standings, this performance has to be put into perspective, even if it is spectacular.
Novitskiy came home in second place ahead of South African Giniel de Villiers in his Toyota, 22m06s behind Gordon. De Villiers got stuck in the sand and lost a few minutes.
Netherland's Bernhar Ten Brinke, driving a Mitsubishi, claimed fourth place. Nani Roma in his MINI was fifth after having lost some time in the sand.
Lucio Ezequiel Alvarez took sixth place in front of rally leader, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel in a MINI.
Peterhansel lost some 15 minutes when he got stuck in the sand dunes.
In the overall classification, Peterhansel is still first, 20 minutes ahead of Roma and 1h06m in front of De Villiers.
Stage 12 classification:
1. Gordon (Hummer)
2. Novitskiy (MINI) at 15m18s
3. De Villiers (Toyota) at 22m06s
Overall positions:
1. Peterhansel (MINI)
2. Roma (MINI) at 1h06m40s
3. De Villiers (Toyota) at 1h44m04s
Stage 12 took the drivers from Arequipa to Nasca, Peru, and included a special stage of 245km.
Gordon arrived in Mazca with an amazing time of 2h14m32s, meaning he finishes 15m18s ahead of the previous best performer of the day, Russian driver Leonid Novitskiy.
To the Hummer driver's credit, he pushed constantly and made no mistakes in the dunes. With the leaders aiming at protecting their leads in the general standings, this performance has to be put into perspective, even if it is spectacular.
Novitskiy came home in second place ahead of South African Giniel de Villiers in his Toyota, 22m06s behind Gordon. De Villiers got stuck in the sand and lost a few minutes.
Netherland's Bernhar Ten Brinke, driving a Mitsubishi, claimed fourth place. Nani Roma in his MINI was fifth after having lost some time in the sand.
Lucio Ezequiel Alvarez took sixth place in front of rally leader, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel in a MINI.
Peterhansel lost some 15 minutes when he got stuck in the sand dunes.
In the overall classification, Peterhansel is still first, 20 minutes ahead of Roma and 1h06m in front of De Villiers.
Stage 12 classification:
1. Gordon (Hummer)
2. Novitskiy (MINI) at 15m18s
3. De Villiers (Toyota) at 22m06s
Overall positions:
1. Peterhansel (MINI)
2. Roma (MINI) at 1h06m40s
3. De Villiers (Toyota) at 1h44m04s