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Toyo Tire Europe, Willich, Germany – Nasser Al-Attiyah wins stage seven of the Dakar Rally in his Qatar/Toyo Tires HUMMER. Team principal Robby Gordon takes second in his SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER to control the top two steps of the podium.

Al-Attiyah demonstrated he was the comeback king in stage seven, blitzing his way to first place after the disappointment of a broken water pipe left him trailing home 11th on Stage 5. With stage six cancelled due to bad weather, his task to get to the front of the general standings became exponentially harder. Pulling back 7 minutes and 53 seconds on overall leader Peterhansel, Al-Attiyah has laid down a marker. He is not giving up without a fight.

Not to be outdone, Robby Gordon staged his own dramatic comeback. In 42nd place at Checkpoint 1, after losing time in the first section, for many drivers this would have been down and out. Not so Gordon, who dug deep to pilot his HUMMER to 11th place by Checkpoint 2. A remarkable feat of skill showing the class of his race package of driver, car and tires. However, Gordon is not a man who 'settles' for anything, so his relentless push continued and at Checkpoint 3 he had climbed to third place, just one second behind overall leader Peterhansel. The stage was set for a race to the finish which would see Gordon best the super quick Peterhansel by seven seconds to take the second step on the podium and complete a remarkable comeback of his own.

Robby Gordon now sits third overall in the 2012 Dakar, 13 minutes, 9 seconds behind the race lead. His first target when the race recommences is the MIni of Holowczyc, 1 minute, 47 seconds ahead of Gordon in P2.

Nasser Al-Attiyah meanwhile, has another mountain to climb, literally as well as figuratively after tomorrow's rest day. At 42 minutes and 54 seconds behind the lead, he needs to take more than six minutes out of Peterhansel’s time on each of the seven remaining stages. A Herculean task made more difficult as the final stage is just 29km meaning in reality Nasser needs to win back more than seven minutes on each of the next six stages.

Follow the team in the 2012 Dakar, log onto www.toyotires.com/dakar-rally-blog. Toyo Tires’ Adrian Puente will travel with the team during its effort to win Dakar, providing race team coverage, photos and videos.