NASCAR star Robby Gordon stunned the Dakar Rally establishment with an outstanding drive to claim victory on the sixth stage of the 15-day endurance race.
The Team Dakar USA driver surged to a 17-second win over Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, who just missed out on a second-stage win in three days in his Ford-powered buggy - while Carlos Sainz stays top of the overall rankings after coming home in fourth position.
Sainz's Volkswagen team-mate Giniel de Villiers finished in third place, his Touareg almost seven minutes down on Gordon's Hummer on the fast and gruelling 394km special stage between Tan Tan and Zouerat in Mauritania.
In 15th after a slow start to his 2007 challenge, Gordon secured his third stage victory in three Dakar outings after a spirited charge through the field which saw him move third after 68km and second after the split at 131km.
The victory in two hours 58 minutes and 57 seconds moves Gordon to 18th place in the outright standings, although still nearly four hours off the pace of Sainz.
Gordon said: 'I really went flat out today. I'm delighted with my day. The car was perfect. A year ago, on the same special stage, we lost 20 minutes - but this year we won.'
He also revealed that fuel problems hampered his performance in the stages before today's victory.
''As regards the general rankings, we had problems with bad petrol in Morocco. On the Dakar, that can become costly in no time,' he added.
Former world rally champion Sainz leads by more than three minutes from De Villiers, with stage one victor Carlos Sousa remaining in touch in third place – ten minutes clear of reigning champion Luc Alphand in fourth.
Frenchman Alphand finished the sixth stage in eighth place as the Mitsubishi team again failed to get to grips with the tricky terrain.
Alphand admitted: 'We're driving fast and trying. But for the moment, the Volkswagens are too quick - and we can't manage.'
Desert specialist Stephane Peterhansel was the highest of the Mitsubishi runners, coming home in fifth place.
Elsewhere, Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit - sixth overall at the the start of the day in his BMW and winner of the free category last year - retired from the race after an accident at 195km.
There was also disappointment for the British entry of Ian Rochelle who, after starting the day in 61st, was forced to retire his Bowler Wildcat.
In the motorbike category, KTM Repsol rider Jordi Viladoms secured a 57-second stage victory ahead of team-mate and reigning champion Marc Coma who maintains a 12-minute lead in the
overall standings.
'It's my first ever stage victory,' said Viladoms.
'I'm really very happy and surprised too.
'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 good start.'
Fellow Spaniard Coma was delighted for his young team-mate, who improves to sixth overall.
He said: 'I'm very happy for Jordi and not surprised by his victory today.
'He's an improving rider, and his time will come. We work hard in this team and we can see that it pays off. Since the start, we've been with the pace.'
American Chris Blais came home in third place on the Red Bull USA KTM to move fourth overall, behind Gauloises KTM duo Isidre Esteve Pujol and David Casteu in second and third place respectively.
Friday's stage is the last before a one-day break on Saturday and runs for 580km between Zouerat and Atar.
ZOUERAT, January 11 (Dakar Rally 2007)
Leading Positions after Stage 6 (Tan Tan- 817Km; Special Stage 394Km)
Cars: 1 Robby Gordon (USA) Hummer 2hrs 58mins 57secs, 2 Jean-Louis Schlesser (Fra) Schles-Ford-Raid 2:59:14, 3 Giniel De Villiers (Rsa) Volkswagen 3:05:49, 4 Carols Sainz (Spa) Volkswagen 3:06:14, 5 Stephane Peterhansel (Fra) Mitsubishi 3:06:46, 6 Nasser saleh Al Attiyah (Qat) BMW 3:07:21, 7 Carlos Sousa (Por) Volkswagen 3:09:00, 8 Luc Alphand (FRA) Mitsubishi 3:09:42, 9 Mark Miller (USA) Volkswagen 3:11:35, 10 Krzysztof Holowczyc (Pol) Nissan 3:18:40, 11 Simon Jean-Joseph (Fra) Buggy 3:23:57, 12 Sergey Shmakov (Rus) Buggy 3:24:15, 13 Philippe Gache (Fra) Buggy 3:24:46, 14 Nani Roma (Spa) Mitsubishi 3:27:29, 15 Bernard Errandonea (Fra) Buggy 3:31:09
Bikes: 1 Jordi Viladoms (Spa) KTM 3hrs 45mins 45secs, 2 Marc Coma (Spa) KTM 3:46:42, 3 Chris Blais (USA) KTM 3:46:45, 4 Isidre Esteve Pujol (Spa) KTM 3:48:53, 5 Frans Verhoeven (Hol) KTM 3:49:14, 6 Giovanni Sala (Ita) KTM 3:51:39, 7 Helder Rodrigues (Por) Yamaha 3:52:54, 8 David Casteu (Fra) KTM 3:53:40, 9 Pal Anders Ullevalseter(Nor) KTM 3:54:19, 10 David Fretigne (Fra) Yamaha 3:54:28, 11 Cyril Despres (Fra) KTM 3:56:27, 12 Thierry Bethys (Fra) Honda 3:57:27, 13 Francisco Lopez (Chi) Honda 4:00:01, 14 Ruben Faria (Por) Yamaha 4:01:05, 15 Henk Knuiman (Hol) Honda 4:01:26
Leading Overall Positions after Stage 6:
Cars: 1 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Volkswagen 16hrs 00mins 04secs, 2 Giniel De Villiers (Rsa) Volkswagen 16:03:15, 3 Carlos Sousa (Por) Volkswagen 16:14:07, 4 Luc Alphand (Fra) Mitsubishi 16:23:59, 5 Stephane Peterhansel (Fra) Mitsubishi 16:25:07, 6 Jean-Louis Schlesser (Fra) Schles-Ford-Raid 16:28:54, 7 Nani Roma (Spa) Mitsubishi 16:37:35, 8 Mark Miller (USA) Volkswagen 16:54:57, 9 Hiroshi Masuoka (Jap) Mitsubishi 17:04:27, 10 Nasser saleh Al Attiyah (Qat) BMW 17:23:36, 11 Sergey Shmakov (Rus) Buggy 17:55:20, 12 Simon Jean-Joseph (Fra) Buggy 18:15:56, 13 Jose Luis Monterde (Spa) BMW 18:38:51, 14 Freddy Loix (Bel) Buggy 18:45:03, 15 Miguel Barbosa (Por) Proto 19:26:00
Bikes: 1 Marc COMA (Spa) KTM 17hrs 55mins 30secs, 2 Isidre Esteve Pujol (Spa) KTM 18:07:37, 3 David Casteu (Fra) KTM 18:40:09, 4 Chris Blais (USA) KTM 18:43:09, 5 cyril Despres (Fra) KTM 18:52:48, 6 Jordi Viladoms (Spa) KTM 19:01:43, 7 Frans Verhoeven (Hol) KTM 19:07:15, 8 David Fretigne (Fra) Yamaha 19:13:45, 9 Helder Rodrigues (Por) Yamaha 19:19:58, 10 Francisco Lopez (Chi) Honda 19:22:42, 11 Giovanni Sala (Ita) KTM 19:28:33, 12 Michel Marchini (Fra) Yamaha 19:33:17, 13 Pal Anders Ullevalseter (Nor) KTM 19:41:12, 14 Jaroslav Katrinak (Slo) KTM 19:53:38, 15 Jacek Czachor (Pol) KTM 20:00:10
