Everybody’s favorite wrecking ball racer is on a roll. Wielding his superfast scratch-built HST Gordini last month, and just smoked everybody at the Dos Mares 500 on his way home.

I don’t know if it’s the million-dollar car, portable R&D center he travels with, expert support staff, or possibly driving talent, but the dude just can not be beat in off-road rally racing right now.

Unless of course, we’re talking about the ultimate off-road rally. ; that 5,000-mile multinational navigation challenge across some of the fiercest driving conditions the world has to offer.

There, that undoubtedly just burns him right up.

Sun baking down, components red-hot, and I'm sure vultures were about to start circling any moment:

Sure, it’s one thing to immolate a field of casual competitors in their VW-powered buggies at the NORRA event and run circles around others at a race nobody outside SoCal’s ever heard of. But loud and proud as the Gordini is, it hasn’t really held up against vehicles that are actually its equal. At least not at Dakar.

And that’s exactly why Gordon’s trying to put so many hard miles on his ride this year. By the time January 2016 comes around, the next running of the Dakar Rally, he wants that thing to be so dialed in that all he’ll have to do is hang on.

I’m rootin’ for him because he’s a cool dude, a hell of a competitor, and I’m not just saying this because he gave me a ride in his pre-runner: but his Speed Energy drink is actually pretty tasty.

Andrew P. Collins is Jalopnik’s off-road and adventure guy. Shoot him an email at or hit him up on Twitter to talk trucks.