All three Team HUMMER vehicles completed stage one of the 2010 Dakar Rally yesterday from Colon to Cordoba which was shortened by 52 kilometers due to heavy rainfalls earlier in the week.

NASCAR driver Robby Gordon was the best finisher of the team in his Monster Energy/Toyo Tires H3. He completed the first stage just a few minutes behind the leader in 6th place.

“I am very happy where we are at right now,” he said. “We got off track a few times but to still be beat by 4 minutes and 48 seconds is pretty good considering at this stage last year we didn’t fare so well.”

Meanwhile, the Vanguard HUMMER ended the day 13 minutes and 53 seconds behind the race leader. The Chile HUMMER driven by Carlo Degavardo had a mechanical problem near the end of the stage; his brake line broke and the throttle cable was stuck open causing minimal damage to the H3. They finished 39th overall in the stage.

Today’s stage takes the teams from Cordoba to La Rioja with terrain similar to yesterday’s stage which will be rough on the HUMMERs 2-wheel drive systems. They are looking forward to the sand dunes in later stages.

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