Robby Gordon endured another tough day on Wednesday during his route back to Buenos Aires in the 37th Dakar Rally, finishing 21st in Stage 10 – a high-altitude course along the Chile-Argentina border.
Gordon’s Stage 10 time of 4 hours, 8 minutes and 31 seconds was 18 minutes and 32 seconds off of the pace set by stage winner and overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar. Orlando Terranova of Argentina finished second, 1 minute and 35 seconds behind and Yazeed Alrajhi of Saudi Arabia came home third, 3 minutes and 39 seconds behind Al-Attiyah.
Gordon remains 20th overall in the Rally, 7 hours, 41 minutes and 25 seconds behind Al-Attiyah. Al-Attiyah’s win allowed him to stretch his overall lead to 28 minutes and 22 seconds over Giniel De Villiers of South Africa and 43 minutes and 8 seconds over Alrajhi.
Wednesday’s race saw the attrition rate of the car class reach 50 percent, with only 71 of the 138 entrants at the starting line. Others are expected to drop out following Stage 10, including defending Dakar Rally champion and Stage 9 winner Nani Roma of Spain who crashed hard just before the midpoint of the stage, barrel rolling his Mini several times.
On Thursday, the cars will race from Salta to Termas de Rio Hondo, Argentina. After a long 326-kilometer (203 miles) liaison, both drivers and navigators will have to have complete concentration on the short 194-kilometer (121 miles) special which will feature fast roads lined with trees.
