Gordon Wins Stage 4 of Dakar Rally by One Second

As we've said yesterday, a new day brings a new stage winner in the 2010 Dakar Rally. Today, it was American racer Robby Gordon to take his Hummer to the top of the time classification in the car category, as he clinched his first win in the South American event this year.

Although the stage win seemed to have already been sealed by yesterday's winner and overall leader of the rally Stephane Peterhansel, Gordon's late effort got him a worthy win, only one second ahead of the Frenchman. It was probably the closest stage finish in the history of the rally, during a stage which the organizers decided to cut by almost 40 km in order to give the competitors a few more hours of rest after the exhausting finish at Flambala.

Despite reaching the finish line at Copiapo in second place, Peterhansel ended the day with a big smile on his face, as his overall lead to rivals Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah increased even further. Al-Attiyah finished the stage more than 2 minutes behind Peterhansel, while his VW teammate Carlos Sainz had to settle for 4th at the end of Day 4.

In the overall classification, the Vesoul-based driver leads by no less than 7 minutes and 36 seconds from Spain's Sainz, while the second VW contender for the 2010 title, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, rests in 3rd place, 9 minutes and 56 seconds behind the leader.

Despite his win on Tuesday – his 4th in the Open category this year and 3rd all-time in the rally – Gordon climbed only one spot in the overall classification, where he is now in 8th place. However, the distance between him and the No 5th placed Carlos Sousa was cut to approximately 5 minutes.