With the terrain extremely soft at the end of the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally, the A.S.O. shortened the stage by 20-km to prevent the drivers from getting stuck.

Robby Gordon navigated the No. 309 Monster Energy Toyo Tires Hummer to a third place finish in Monday's stage, and remains fifth in the overall standings. Losing nine minutes due to getting stuck in a river bed, Gordon would have easily won the stage had that not had happened.

"Today was a great day for the Monster Energy Hummer as well as the Vanguard Hummer," commented Gordon. "Unfortunately, the No. 309 Hummer got stuck in a river bed. We lost about nine minutes trying to escape, but only ended up losing today's stage by two minutes to [Carlos] Sainz. Had we not had this problem, I am confident that we would have won today's stage, especially after some of the other leaders experienced some problems. I think Mark Miller broke a wheel and Giniel de Villiers got lost. If they continue to have problems, we have a good chance to win this thing."

Eric Vigouroux collected a 17th place finish in the No. 324 Vanguard Hummer. With five stages remaining in the event, Vigouroux is fighting to attain a top-20 overall position.

"Eric also had a good day finishing 17th considering all the work that was done to the Vanguard Hummer last night after he rolled during yesterday's special," noted Gordon. "The Team Dakar USA members did an excellent job prepping both Hummers for today's special, and I can't say enough about them."