Santiago, Chile – On the final day of the 2013 Dakar Rally, Robby Gordon and Kellon Walch set the pace to start Stage 14. However, the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER finished the 114KM stage in 6th place; it was the American duo’s first finish outside the top 5 since Stage 4.

The Rally consisted of ups and downs for Gordon as a driver and Walch as a navigator. No matter the outcome of the stage, the two continued to battle capturing 8 podiums and 2 stage wins in the world’s toughest off-road race. After the roll over on Day 4, Gordon knew that continuing with the Rally would help overall in developing the HUMMER to make it stronger to come back in 2014 to capture the ultimate goal in an overall win.

Copiapo, Chile – Today’s stage went extremely well for the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER until the last checkpoint where Robby Gordon and navigator Kellon Walch would find themselves stuck, losing precious minutes from their lead.

Gordon led the charge to start Stage 12 heading back into the country of Chile. The Rally started at 6 AM local time to cross over the Andes making it an exceptionally long liaison to the start of the 319KM Special. The competitors would race into the dunes of the Atacama desert, a place that Gordon has won multiple stages in the past.

Fiambalá, Argentina – The organization has again decided to cancel the remaining kilometers of Stage 11 due to flash flooding in the area. As a result, Robby Gordon was declared the winner since he was the leader at Checkpoint 1, where the organization decided to red flag the race.

“We won the stage, so today was a good special for us. It could have been a great special for us. I am sure we could have beat most of the cars by 30 minutes or more. It is a shame they had to cancel it because of weather since we would have climbed the standings today. The flooding was not too bad when we got to it; it was only about a foot or two high. Not a big deal, I mean I thought this was the Dakar, the toughest race in the world…it seems like they have lost sight of that this year,” commented a slightly disappointed Gordon even though he won the stage because he knew there was still more time to be gained on his competition.

La Rioja, Argentina – Stage 10 in this year’s Dakar Rally was a much shorter stage than yesterday but featured much of the same narrow WRC-style course. Given this, Robby Gordon and navigator Kellon Walch knew that it would not be suitable for the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER.

Starting fourth today allowed Gordon to keep pace with the 4wd cars in order to stay within reach. Gordon put on a spectacular show with his vehicle, pushing corners through river crossings and jumping cattle crossings, ultimately giving the locals a reason  to cheer. Gordon finished fifth, 6 minutes and 51 seconds behind the stage winner.

Cordoba, Argentina – Following a much needed rest day for teams, today’s stage from Tucumán to Córdoba was one of the toughest and longest of this year’s Dakar Rally. Drivers faced a course similar to what would be seen during a WRC race, an advantage that the 4WD race cars had over the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER.

When the reviewed results came in for Stage 8, Gordon was scored third. Thus, he started third in today’s stage, which was helpful to keep pace with the leaders during the 593KM Special. Gordon lost a few minutes by KM100 and was down nearly 8 minutes to the leader near by the second half of the stage. Not letting the leaders stray too far, Gordon stayed in the top-5 for much of the Special bringing the HUMMER home with a solid fourth place finish, 8 minutes and 37 seconds behind.

Stage 8 in the 2013 Dakar Rally continued in Argentina, taking competitors from Salta to Tucumán. Initially, it was suppose to be one of the longest specials in this year’s race comprising of a 152KM liaison to a 471KM Special then another 228KM to the bivouac. Due to today’s weather conditions, the Special was shortened by more than half, resulting in only 188KM of competition.

Robby Gordon, driver of the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER jumped into the lead early and maintained a fast pace bouncing between first and third place. During the last 40KM, Gordon suffered a puncture in his tire and lost five minutes. Dropping from second to third, he crossed the shortened finish line 5 minutes and 17 seconds behind today’s winner. Gordon entered the bivouac with a third place finish, his fourth consecutive third place finish. This finish could possibly change overnight while the organization is actively looking into today’s situation to determine a course of action.

Arica, Chile (January 9, 2013) – Stage 4 was a tough one for Robby Gordon and his SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI team, but he excels at taking his misfortunes and turning them into positives. Gordon started Stage 5 far down the list, making his objective for the Stage to pass as many cars as he could. Picking cars off one-by-one, Gordon quickly found himself quickly in the top-5 after the first checkpoint and reeled in the next two competitors in line by the last checkpoint, finishing on the podium only 1 minute and 41 seconds being stage winner, Nani Roma.

“Stage 5 was obviously a lot better than Stage 4 as I put ourselves into a horrible position the day before. If we just would have maintained yesterday we would be sitting here fifth overall in the Rally. Instead we’re sitting here in 35th place, 5 hours and 50 minutes behind the leaders. The car showed today that its capable of performing by finishing third. It is just a bummer we started 27th today and passed 13 cars in route. Now we get to start back with the lead pack again like we did on Stage 4. There’s really nothing to gain except to have strong runs, learn as much as we can about the car and at least we will have more experience. This was our year to win the rally, and I truly feel that we gave our opportunity away,” said Robby Gordon, driver of the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER.

Arequipa, Peru – After finishing yesterday’s stage in second, Gordon and the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI team were optimistic about today’s stage and prepared to take advantage of a good starting position. Unfortunately, it was a day of dismay for the SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER as it rolled into the bivouac bruised and beaten after stage 4.

The race drastically would change for Gordon and Team SPEED near KM35 when the HUMMER crashed into a dune, ultimately landing on its roof. With a broken windshield, front clip and two busted radiators, it took Gordon and Walch valuable hours to get the HUMMER back on four wheels and headed to the finish.

Pisco, Peru – The site of Stage 2 begins in the spot that Stage 1 ended, the town of Pisco. The first competitor in the Car category left the bivouac at 7:51AM. With Robby Gordon starting in 35th, he would leave on an 85KM liaison at 8:40AM and drive to the start of the 242KM Special.

With nothing shorter than a stage victory on his mind, Gordon found himself trying to navigate around slower competitors, including fellow racers in the Truck class. Gordon was held up a few times trying to work his way around the dust. By the time he got the 100KM checkpoint, he was only 3 minutes and 33 seconds behind the leader. Misfortune would strike again not only for the SPEED Energy /Toyo Tires / MAPEI HUMMER but others as well. Like fellow racers, Robby Gordon and navigator Kellon Walch had a difficult time finding a certain way point. Missing such point would result in hefty time penalties, so the duo lost nearly 17 minutes trying to find the waypoint.

The countdown is on to the 2013 Dakar, considered by many to be the craziest, most dangerous off-road rally in the world! Toyo Tires will be covering the 2013 Dakar rally and its sponsored teams in the race that starts tomorrow.

Starting January 5, this 15-day, Pan-American odyssey will cover nearly 5,000 miles in 14 stages. See Gordon’s Hummer traverse some of the world’s highest sand dunes and mountains while racing through Peru, Argentina and Chile – all with one thing on his mind: victory.