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Robby Gordon and Central Europe Rally on DIRECTV’s The 101
Charlotte, NC - Team Dakar USA is excited to announce that they have obtained the United States broadcast rights for the Central Dakar Rally. DIRECTV will air a half-hour daily show air on channel 101, which is an in-house channel available throughout the United States on its satellite service. The show debuts on April 19th and will conclude on the 26th. It will feature 13 minutes of overall rally coverage and nine minutes of coverage dedicated to the American efforts of Team Dakar USA. The program will be aired twice daily – first at 7:00 pm EST and re-broadcast at 12:30 am EST.
When terrorist threats resulted in the cancellation of the 2008 Dakar Rally, the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) moved quickly to schedule the Central Europe Rally as a replacement event for all the teams, fans and sponsors of the legendary Dakar Rally. The Central Europe Rally was already in the works as part of the Dakar Series, which was set to debut in 2009.
Beginning in Budapest, Hungary, the Rally will cover 2,972 kilometers, approximately 1,846 miles, during the seven day and is promised to be an extremely varied and technical route. The rally will head to Romania and then conclude at Balaton Lake in Hungary.
Robby Gordon is no stranger to logistical challenges, but the Central Europe Rally may prove to be the greatest challenge yet. Gordon, who has pulled extreme duty running between NASCAR, Baja and Indy races, will depart for Paris following the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this Saturday in Phoenix. In Paris, he will meet up with the members of Team Dakar USA program and drive the race and support vehicles over 1300km to Budapest for the start of the race. Following the seven day race that concludes on the 26th of April, Gordon will fly back to the United States to compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega on April 27th.
“Timing is everything with this event. First, I’m very grateful to the ASO for coming up with a solution for all the fans and sponsors. The schedule that they selected has made it possible for us to compete. I also have to thank Chris Long at DIRECTV for helping televise this event. He and The 101 team have mobilized quickly, and I think motorsports fans everywhere will have something to get excited about,” said Gordon.
Team Dakar USA has entered two identically prepared purpose built race Hummers in the Central Europe Rally. In the 2007 Dakar Rally, Gordon in his same Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Hummer H3 finished first in the open class, eighth overall and scored a stage win. It was Gordon’s third stage win in three years and allowed Hummer to become the first American manufacturer to win a Dakar Rally stage.
Additional rally coverage can also be found on robbygordon.com and robbysuprising.com where Team Dakar USA will have daily updates, the twitter micro blog feed, and videos.
Central Europe Rally Stages and TV Schedule
Date
Stage
Start
Finish
TV
1st Air
2nd Air
4/19
Scrutineering
Budapest
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/20
1
Budapest
Baia Mare
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/21
2
Baia Mare
Sovata
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/22
3
Sovata
Sovata
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/23
4
Sovata
Debrecen
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/24
5
Debrecen
Veszpem
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/25
6
Veszpem
Veszpem
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/26
7
Veszpem
Balatonfüred
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/27
NASCAR
Talladega
Talladega
FOX
1:30 p.m. EST
END-
Robby Gordon and Central Europe Rally on DIRECTV’s The 101
Charlotte, NC - Team Dakar USA is excited to announce that they have obtained the United States broadcast rights for the Central Dakar Rally. DIRECTV will air a half-hour daily show air on channel 101, which is an in-house channel available throughout the United States on its satellite service. The show debuts on April 19th and will conclude on the 26th. It will feature 13 minutes of overall rally coverage and nine minutes of coverage dedicated to the American efforts of Team Dakar USA. The program will be aired twice daily – first at 7:00 pm EST and re-broadcast at 12:30 am EST.
When terrorist threats resulted in the cancellation of the 2008 Dakar Rally, the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) moved quickly to schedule the Central Europe Rally as a replacement event for all the teams, fans and sponsors of the legendary Dakar Rally. The Central Europe Rally was already in the works as part of the Dakar Series, which was set to debut in 2009.
Beginning in Budapest, Hungary, the Rally will cover 2,972 kilometers, approximately 1,846 miles, during the seven day and is promised to be an extremely varied and technical route. The rally will head to Romania and then conclude at Balaton Lake in Hungary.
Robby Gordon is no stranger to logistical challenges, but the Central Europe Rally may prove to be the greatest challenge yet. Gordon, who has pulled extreme duty running between NASCAR, Baja and Indy races, will depart for Paris following the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this Saturday in Phoenix. In Paris, he will meet up with the members of Team Dakar USA program and drive the race and support vehicles over 1300km to Budapest for the start of the race. Following the seven day race that concludes on the 26th of April, Gordon will fly back to the United States to compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega on April 27th.
“Timing is everything with this event. First, I’m very grateful to the ASO for coming up with a solution for all the fans and sponsors. The schedule that they selected has made it possible for us to compete. I also have to thank Chris Long at DIRECTV for helping televise this event. He and The 101 team have mobilized quickly, and I think motorsports fans everywhere will have something to get excited about,” said Gordon.
Team Dakar USA has entered two identically prepared purpose built race Hummers in the Central Europe Rally. In the 2007 Dakar Rally, Gordon in his same Monster Energy/Toyo Tires Hummer H3 finished first in the open class, eighth overall and scored a stage win. It was Gordon’s third stage win in three years and allowed Hummer to become the first American manufacturer to win a Dakar Rally stage.
Additional rally coverage can also be found on robbygordon.com and robbysuprising.com where Team Dakar USA will have daily updates, the twitter micro blog feed, and videos.
Central Europe Rally Stages and TV Schedule
Date
Stage
Start
Finish
TV
1st Air
2nd Air
4/19
Scrutineering
Budapest
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/20
1
Budapest
Baia Mare
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/21
2
Baia Mare
Sovata
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/22
3
Sovata
Sovata
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/23
4
Sovata
Debrecen
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/24
5
Debrecen
Veszpem
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/25
6
Veszpem
Veszpem
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/26
7
Veszpem
Balatonfüred
DIRECTV ch101
4 p.m. pst
7 p.m. EST
9:30 p.m. pst
12:30 a.m. EST
4/27
NASCAR
Talladega
Talladega
FOX
1:30 p.m. EST
END-
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