HINO TEAM SUGAWARA entered the Rally Mongolia 2012 (August 12-19) with their new racing truck which was developed for the Dakar Rally 2013. This year, the Mongolian summer posed extreme differences in daytime temperatures, and record-breaking rainfall that has not been seen in decades turned large areas of the Gobi Desert into marshes and rivers. As a result, this turned out to be a grueling race in which 3 out of 7 stages had to be cancelled.

The following are comments made by driver Teruhito Sugawara on the results of the shake down at the Rally Mongolia 2012.

"In this race, we focused on verifying the electronically controlled common rail fuel injection system, which was a first for our trucks, as well as improvements we made to its suspension and rear body. While it was the first time we competed with an electronically controlled engine, none of our concerns for engine problems materialized, and I feel that the results were very good. Although we switched our cooling fan from a mechanically driven one to a motor driven one, we were able to obtain more than adequate cooling effects. If we were to compete in the Dakar Rally with the same specs, I think we could increase output while reducing engine loss.

I got a real sense that the use of leaf springs with longer spans and greater frame rigidity has helped us improve the truck's steering stability and riding comfort. Also, the new disk brakes we used for this race exceeded my expectations in terms of operability and were very easy to handle.

Overall, the truck exceeds expectations and I get the feeling that we have a good shot at achieving high rankings. However, the Dakar Rally is known for forcing vehicles out of the race even from minor problems, so we will be making the best of the limited time remaining till the rally to make further improvements to the truck based on the important data we have obtained in this race."

The truck will be transported to Hino Motors in early September for final adjustments in preparation for the Dakar Rally. In the Rally Mongolia 2012, the truck finished 5th overall in the four-wheel division, the highest position for a Japanese entrant in the race.

Yoshimasa Sugawara also enters this race on a Jimny and wins class championship.

Yoshimasa Sugawara entered the race on a Jimny. In stage 7, when he was running head to head with a competitor, Sugawara came across a river that had suddenly appeared due to rising water and suffered a submersion for the first time in his entire rally career. But thanks to the advantage he had built up to this point and precise maneuvers, Sugawara was able to finish top in the Jimny class.