Gordon’s Dakar tonic

AMERICAN Robby Gordon won the 12th stage of the Dakar Rally to Nazca, Peru yesterday despite having been disqualified from the race two days ago for engine irregularities.

Gordon, who is allowed to continue racing while his appeal is considered, triumphed ahead of Russia’s Leonid Novotskiy with South Africa’s Ginel de Villiers coming home third.

Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel settled for sixth place but still holds an overall lead of 20 minutes over his nearest challenger, Nani Roma, with two more stages of this year’s race to go.