Gordon vaults into contention at Dakar Rally

Fifth-place run in third day vaults NASCAR star into eighth overall

After two days of running on very tight, rain soaked roads in Portugal and Spain, Robby Gordon and his "Dakar" H3 Hummer crossed the finish line fifth in the third stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday.

The effort moved Gordon to eighth in the overall standings.

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"We were really looking forward to this stage, as we knew this would be our first chance to let our Hummer stretch its legs in the desert terrain for which it was designed," Gordon said after the 314 kilometer leg of the race, which ended in the small city of Er Rachidia in Morocco.

Monday's stage was divided into three smaller stages. The beginning and ending Liaison Stages moved the competitors into and out of the more populous areas of the country.

The middle "Special Stage," however, is the important timed run that counts for the overall score, and most importantly, the next morning's starting slot, which is based upon the combination of times from the previous day's runs.

"This is exactly where I expected to be after three days and I'm really pleased with the Hummer's performance."

Gordon admitted after arriving in Er Rachidia that he'd made an error at the start, which probably cost them the overall win for the stage.

"We made a great run off the line, passing both Jean Louis Schlesser (the eventual winner) and Stephane Peterhansel's Mitsubishi, but then I looked off to the left and saw one of the BMW X3s fast disappearing in the dust. Knowing how well this team had been doing, I instinctively elected to follow and soon realized he was lost."

Gordon eventually re-passed both Schlesser and Peterhansel, but his elapsed time for the stage still put the Hummer team in fifth overall

"This is an incredibly large and confusing area of the earth; it's very easy to trust your racing instinct instead of the route book and your navigator ... I won't make that mistake again," said Gordon.

The previous two day's top finishers, Spanish WRC Champion, Carlos Sainz (VW Toureg) and Portuguese rally champion, Carlos Souza (Nissan Navarra) dropped back Monday. Sainz finished 12th while Souza ended up 14th.

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