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Robby Gordon has battled for six hours and twenty fve minutes, crossing 556 kilometers of rocks and sand to win stage 9 of the 2012 Dakar. Gordon's SPEED Energy/Toyo Tires HUMMER finished 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of race leader Peterhansel's Mini bringing the gap in the overall standings down to just 5 minutes, 58 seconds.

Todays stage, the longest of the rally, was a two parter separated by 126km of untimed liason where the teams have to obey a strict speed limit before they get back on the clock at the 466 km mark. At the end of part one, Gordon lead by just 35 seconds from Peterhansel who had doggedly tracked him through the first 340 km of rocks, mud and sand.

Part two of the stage, with few landmarks, would be a stern test for Gordon's navigator Johnny Campbell. At the penultimate checkpoint, the hard charging Peterhansel had closed the gap to just 19 seconds. Unaware of how slim his lead was because of their separated departures onto the stage, Gordon moved up a gear in the final 80 kilometers. His last section efforts were rewarded when he pulled out more than a minute from Peterhansel to increase his winning lead and narrow the overall gap.

With five stages and 1.404 race kimometers still to contest, Gordon now has every chance of overtaking the super quick Frenchman and planting his race boots on the top step of the overall podium.

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.