Friday, January 12, 2007 - From Paul Defosseux in Mauritania - The Australian - theaustralian.news.com.au
Pic: Agence France-Presse
AMERICA'S Robby Gordon, driving a Hummer, has won the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally, at 817km the race's longest from Tan-Tan in Morocco.
He finished ahead of France's Jean-Louis Schlesser and South Africa's Giniel De Villiers.
Spain KTM rider Jordi Villadoms won the motorcycle section ahead of compatriot and race leader Marc Coma and American Chris Blais.
KTM riders took the top six places with Villadoms covering the 394km of special stages between Tan-Tan and here in 3hr 45min 45sec, 57sec ahead of Coma with Blais a minute behind.
In the overall standings, Coma maintained his lead in the motorbike section while former world rally champion Carlos Sainz, fourth overnight, stays in charge of car section.
"It's my first ever stage victory," said Villadoms.
"I knew I was riding well because I caught up with Cyril Despres. However, I didn't catch up with Marc (Coma) and Isidre (Esteve), so until the finishing line I wasn't aware of it.
"I didn't expect to win a stage that quickly. Of course, it's what you aim to do, but for this Dakar, my objective is to help out Marc first and foremost.
"This result shows that we are a capable team and that the effort put in throughout the year is well worth it. I've only done one Dakar, last year, and I still have a lot to learn, but it's a good start."
For former NASCAR ace Gordon, who finished 17sec ahead of Schlesser, it was his third career stage win in the event adding to successes in Spain and Morocco in 2005.
Volkswagen still holds the top three places in the overall classification.
De Villiers is 3min 11sec behind Sainz with Portugal's Carlos Sousa rounding out the top three, 14min 03sec off the pace.
Japan's Hiroshi Masuoka, a former winner, is in ninth place in his Mitsubishi, after losing an hour because of mechanical trouble overnight.
Today's stage sees the race progress over 580km to Atar with a 542km special.
