TEAM DAKAR USA > News > Press Releases Team Dakar USA Survives the Mountains in the Central Europe Rally

Baia Mare, Romania – The damage was contained for Robby Gordon on stage three of the Central Europe Rally. The rock course that provided the four-wheel drive vehicles an advantage the day before was now in rough shape and Gordon and his Monster Energy Hummer managed a stronger than expected performance.

Gordon began the day in seventh position overall and after the two specials managed to move up to sixth in the overall classification just 5:33 back of Stephan Peterhansel. Despite running the final portion of the second special on a deflated tire Gordon claimed the fourth best time of the day.

"I'm a little more excited today than I was yesterday. I was thinking we were going to be over 10 minutes behind after the Romania stages. I think the weather may have helped by roughing up the course. We are five minutes back and in this short rally that is going to be tough to make up – but I have seen stranger things happen. We really are looking forward to getting back on Hummer terrain and attacking the course," remarked Gordon.

Once again Bj Baldwin was not so lucky. A navigation error sent them into a snow bank which cost the Vanguard team over 20 minutes after getting stuck. Baldwin and navigator Kevin Heath are now in 20^th place.

The Rally now heads back to Debrecen, Hungary and the site of the first stage where the team can look forward to running the course in reverse. Again the stage will feature two specials, 62km and 88km. The rough terrain should be better suited for the Hummer than the tight tracks of Romania.