Jan 1, 2012, Mar del Plata-Santa Rosa de la Pampa
Connection: 763 Special Stage: 57 Total: 820 (km)

Competition for the 2012 Dakar Rally Kicks Off
Contestants Race through Sand Dunes from Mar Del Plata to Santa Rosa

The Dakar Rally 2012 kicked off on January 1 with its first leg of competition between Mar Del Plata and Santa Rosa. The SS (Special Stage) for this day consisted of a 57 km segment along the coast, 150 km from Mar Del Plata. The road surface of this segment consisted primarily of sand with some dune sections, clearly indicating the prevalence of sand in this year's race.

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA, which entered two HINO 500 Series trucks in the modified trucks category, delivered a solid race through this segment. Car 2 piloted by Teruhito Sugawara and Seiichi Suzuki finished this SS at 26th overall and 2nd in the Under 10-litre class, and Car 1 piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura came in at 33rd and 4th place in these respective categories. Although the trucks appear to be in the middle group judging simply in terms of ranking position, the time differences between contestants were small, and the crew naturally felt no need to take risks at this stage as they had a long race ahead of them. After completing the SS, the two trucks travelled the 600 km liaison segment and arrived at the bivouac in Santa Rosa at around 10 pm. While the total distance traveled this day was a lengthy 800 km, the crew was in good condition and wasted no time to confirm the servicing details with the mechanics to prepare for the 2nd day leg to San Rafael.

This bivouac was set up on the same mobile camp ground that was used in the 2009 and 2010 race. Although the site is situated on a grassy area beside a pond, the daytime sun can be very intense, raising the temperature north of 40ºC. The Hino mechanics, having arrived at this site on the HINO 700 Series FU assistance truck and assistance cars, could be seen carrying out their first maintenance and inspection tasks for this race into the small hours of the night.

Yoshimasa Sugawara: We came across a short dune segment so this was a great warm-up for the first day. We've decided to make some changes to our suspension. The liaison segment was long, and I'm starving!

Hiroyuki Sugiura: The SS today was just right for the first day. We encountered some minor issues, but we are doing very well overall.

Teruhito Sugawara: The sand near the ocean was moist and heavy. So while we did come across dunes, the segment was advantageous for vehicles with more power. As for ourselves, we are doing fine without any problems at all.

Seiichi Suzuki: The water temperature didn't go up despite of the heavy sand and the truck is doing very well. The dune segment was shorter than I thought.

Refer to the Daily Movies
https://www.hino-global.com/dakar/gallery/video_index.html

*The HINO vehicle referred in this news in relation to the rally is specially designed, tuned and modified for the Dakar Rally, and most of its specifications are different from those of the HINO vehicles sold in the market unless otherwise specifically mentioned.