Gordon remains third at Dakar with one stage to go

Spain's Nani Roma (Mitsubishi) won the 13th stage of the Dakar Rally on Friday as the 2009 version prepares to conclude Saturday. Roma was more than seven minutes ahead of Poland's Krzysztof Holowczyc (Nissan) and Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (BMW) when heavy rain cut the 13th stage short.

Leader Giniel De Villiers finished the stage eighth, 14 minutes off the pace, but held on to his lead inherited Thursday when leader Carlos Sainz crashed out of the race. De Villiers lead is a scant two minutes 20 seconds on Volkswagen teammate Mark Miller, who finished the stage in seventh, 15 seconds in front of De Villiers.

Gordon

NASCAR driver Robby Gordon (Hummer) was 16th in Stage 13, 22 minutes 49 seconds behind Roma. Gordon remains third with one stage remaining, 1 hour and 27 minutes behind De Villiers.

Defending motorcycle champion Cyril Despres of France won the motorcycle portion of the stage but Spain's Marc Coma is set to claim overall victory. Coma finished second in Friday's stage, leads by nearly one and a half hours overall and barring disaster on the final leg into Buenos Aires is guaranteed a second Dakar title to add to his 2006 triumph.

Coma is still cautious about his prospects with more than 220 kilometers of special stage riding to come.

"Saturday will be a long stage," Coma said. "In the previous Dakars, we were used to a short final stage around Lac Rose (in Dakar). Here, we have 220km of special stage. That's a lot and a lot can happen too."

Saturday's final stage will take the competitors from Cordoba, Argentina to Buenos Aires, the location where the rally began January 3.

The Dakar Rally is being broadcast on Versus, with daily updates on RobbyGordon.com.

Related:
• Gordon third in 12th stage, third overall at Dakar Rally

Wire Services contributed to this report.