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Toyo Tire Europe, Willich, Germany – Nasser Al-Attiyah has won stage two of the Dakar Rally in his Qatar/Toyo Tires HUMMER. Team principal Robby Gordon also took a podium position, finishing third in his SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER.

After relinquishing an almost certain win in stage one to assist team mate Nasser Al-Attiyah, Robby Gordon stormed to a podium position in stage two, bringing him up to 2nd place in the overall standings just 2 minutes 28 seconds behind leader Peterhansel’s X-Raid Mini.

Nasser Al-Attiyah meanwhile was invincible on the day. Despite his lowly 38th position start, he raced through the field overtaking cars on the road as if they were parked, to win the stage by 54 seconds from Peterhansel who started from 3rd place. Al-Attiyah’s charge has moved him to 6th place overall, 8 minutes and 47 seconds behind the lead.

This is the strongest ever start to the Dakar for Robby Gordon’s team. Looking back at the team’s best Dakar Rally result to date, third place overall in 2009, Gordon was only in 10th place after stage two, 21 minutes, 32 seconds behind the lead. After stage two in 2012, both the team’s Hummers are comfortably inside the 2009 time and placing.

Stage three, heading towards the Andes mountains should play to the team’s strengths. 208km of rocky, bumpy terrain, rising at times to over 3.000 meters elevation is a punishing test for car and driver. The legendary build of the Hummers, the proven skill of the drivers and the performance of the Toyo Tires Open Country M/T-R tires should prove decisive.

With two cars in the top ten including Robby Gordon in P2, the scene is set for a hard fought assault on the overall Dakar title. Thousands of kilometers remain to be raced but no one would bet against the Hummers today.

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.