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Rallying: McRae slip leaves Gordon ahead

Roddy Brooks
Tuesday 04 January 2005 01:00 GMT
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Robby Gordon won his second special stage in the Dakar Rally to reclaim the overall lead on day four as Britain's Colin McRae dropped down the order.

The American, who won the opening stage, clocked the fastest time on yesterday's 123-kilometre special stage between Rabat and Agadir in Morocco in his VW to lead France's Stéphane Peterhansel by one minute in the overall standings.

Gordon's time of 1hr 14min 1sec was 53 seconds quicker than the Mitsubishi of Peterhansel, with France's Bruno Saby (VW) in third.

Colin McRae, the overnight leader, slipped to 10th in the overall standings in his Nissan after finishing 11th on the day, almost four minutes behind the leader.

Gordon, who won on the opening day on Friday, tops the overall standings, 59 seconds ahead of Peterhansel. McRae, a winner outside Granada in Spain on Sunday, is 3min 46sec off the pace.

Tuesday's fifth leg, the second and final one in Morocco, takes the rally 654km from Agadir to Smara and features a 381km special stage.

Six stages follow in Mauritania, two in Mali and two in Senegal where the rally ends in Dakar on 16 January.

Yesterday's motorcycle special stage was cancelled due to fog which meant the Frenchman David Fretigne (Yamaha) remained in first place overall.

This is not the first time a motorcycle special stage has been cancelled in Morocco due to fog after the organisers considered it too dangerous for the riders to race.

As a result 216 motorcycles travelled in convoy to the first checkpoint, where the special was to start, before making their way to the finish in Agadir.

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