Jan 2, 2012, Santa Rosa de la Pampa-San Rafael
Connection: 486 Special Stage: 295 Total: 781 (km)

Both Trucks Move Up in Position Rankings Without Any Problems
Car 2 Closes in on the Top Contestant in the Under 10-litre Class.

On January 2, contestants in the 2012 Dakar Rally headed for San Rafael, Argentina. The competition was carried out over a 295 km segment, which included a relatively short (20 km) but challenging dune segment. From Santa Rosa, contestants headed to the western end of La Pampa via a 486 km liaison segment. The SS, consisting of a northbound route around the Andes Mountains to a point short of reaching San Rafael, was a route that the contestants have raced several times in the past. Overtaking was a challenge on mountain crossings as they were primarily one track roads and very dusty. Additionally, the dunes presented some very steep grades, placing them high on any scale of difficulty. The two HINO 500 Series trucks that were fielded by HINO TEAM SUGAWARA did very well in this segment.

Car 2 piloted by Teruhito Sugawara and Seiichi Suzuki started off at 26th place, passed the intermediate checkpoint at 23rd place, and crossed the goal line for the day at 18th, having completed the dune segment towards the end of the SS with no mistakes. Based on this result, Car 2 improved its overall ranking to 21th overall and 2nd place in the Under 10-litre class, shortening the time difference with the top contestant in the class, Johan Elfrink of Mercedes Benz Atego, to only 28 seconds. Car 1 piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura finished this SS at 29th overall and 4th in the class for an overall ranking of 31th and 4th, respectively.

The bivouac at San Rafael was set up on a race track adjacent to an air field. This was the 3rd time for the teams to bivouac at this location after 2009 and 2010. While the daytime temperature reached above a scorching 40ºC, the sun had set and the area cooled down to a much more pleasant temperature by the time Car 2 arrived after 9:30 pm, and the four Hino mechanics who had been standing by wasted no time in starting their inspection tasks. Car 1 has not arrived as of this writing but is currently traveling on the liaison segment after having completed the SS. Tomorrow, the contestants will be heading north over the Andes Mountains to San Juan. The 270 km SS around San Juan consists of a mountain course which is mostly situated at high elevations, taking the contestants above 3,000 m at some points.

Teruhito Sugawara: While the dunes were not as difficult as I imagined, the washboard terrain around the dunes were hard on our truck. I'm getting a real feel for the high potential of the new racing truck I am driving now, as it would catch up with larger trucks ahead of us before I knew it. While we have a small time difference to make up with our rival in the Under 10-litre class, I won't be focusing on this and continue to maintain our pace.

Seiichi Suzuki: We had no navigation related problems or problems with the truck today. As we were informed that the organizers will be enforcing speed limits stringently, we maintained a constant speed of 105 km/h in the liaison segments, but they were still quite challenging.

Naoya Nakano: On Car 2, we carried out normal inspections and performed checks for cuts on tires as well as any loose of parts. Car 1 has not arrived yet, but we have been told that its windshield was broken by a flying stone. Our plan for remedying this problem includes a possible windshield replacement.

(The rankings in parentheses are in the class with an engine displacement of below 10 liters.)
*The rankings at the time when the report was written might be adjusted afterwards.

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.