This year marks the fourth year since the Dakar Rally was relocated to South America. The 2013 race will start off from Lima, the capital city of Peru, instead of from Argentina. Mechanics and other staff members of HINO TEAM SUGAWARA, which will be entering two HINO 500 Series trucks ("Hino Ranger" in the Japanese market), arrived in Lima on December 19. After taking possession of the trucks that were shipped from Japan, the team rented space at a Peru Toyota dealership in Lima to carry out preparations on the trucks. On January 2, the team's trucks passed vehicle inspections and the staff members passed documentation reviews, both of which were carried out by the organizer. The trucks were then moved to the Parc-Fermes (vehicle storage area), completing the year-long preparatory process leading up to the 2013 race.

With rally related ad signs posted throughout the city and events being held by sponsors of various teams, interest in the Dakar Rally is high among the Peruvian public. On December 27, Peru Toyota organized an event showcasing the Hino team where first-time team mechanics got a taste of the mood of the race and a good dose of motivation.

Vehicle inspections were carried out in a section of a park on the Magdalena coast located on the southwest side of the city. Although it is the height of summer this time of year in South America, Lima has been receiving cool breezes, with shades providing cool solace from the intense sunlight, most likely due to the city's seaside location. After the documentation reviews, the Hino team was the first team on the first day of inspections to begin vehicle inspections, and carried out all inspection items in solemn fashion. Starting with this race, the teams will be required to use rebound belts supplied by the organizers to maintain suspension stroke values within regulations. While some extra time was used to check these belts, Car 2 which will be piloted by Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura, completed inspections without event. Car 1, which will be crewed by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura, encountered a problem with its kill switch, but this problem was quickly resolved with no further event.

On its way to the Parc-Fermes after inspections, the team was happily surprised on the podium when Car 1 was congratulated by president Ollanta Humala of Peru, who was on site for ceremonies. Firmly shaking hands with president Humala, Yoshimasa Sugawara renewed his commitment to give it his best.

Vehicle inspections will continue through January 4, and the starting ceremony will be held on January 5 on Chorillos beach located 5km to the south of the city. Contestants will then compete through the first special stage (SS) -it will be a short stage at only 13km- on their way to the first bivouac in Pisco.

Yoshimasa Sugawara: Once again we were the first to complete vehicle inspections and we feel good about starting the race. I will be racing a new racing truck powered by an electronically controlled engine. In addition to the engine, the brakes also feel good having been replaced with disk brakes from the drum brakes previously used. Katsumi Hamura, who will be navigating for the first time in 3 years, is highly dependable so I am very much looking forward to the race.

Katsumi Hamura: While this will be the first Dakar Rally for me in 3 years, I'm sure my feel for the race will come back once we start. This will be the first time since 1992 that I will be racing with Yoshimasa Sugawara, and the eleventh time in all. Our aim is to run a great race and "finish" with excellent results.

Teruhito Sugawara: I arrived in Lima on December 24 and I'm in great condition. Our truck is also fully prepared for the race. Car 2 is a modified version of the previous generation. We have matured this truck over the years, and I think this will be the year that we will be retiring this model, so I hope to achieve solid results.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: This is the first time that I will be navigating for Teruhito Sugawara. Because we will be racing at a higher average speed, my aim is to provide support in a variety of areas in addition to navigating, including areas such as air pressure management.

Seiichi Suzuki: All preparatory work proceeded as scheduled, other than having to prepare stays for installing the rebound belts that were provided by the organizers after we got here. One thing that was a bit of a problem was that the staff member from the organizer who was in charge of applying the car number was not very familiar with the task.

Mitsuhiro Urabe: This will be the second Dakar Rally for me since the 2009 race. I was anxious that we might encounter problems during final adjustments, but things went without event and we had enough time left over to carry out detailed settings. I am now eager for the race to start.

Takahiro Kikuchi: I will be working on Car 1. Once we arrived at the inspection site, we really got a sense that the rally was about to begin and that perked me up. It was tough going for the first little while after we got here, but I've been able to work off my jet lag and I'm feeling good physically now.

Takeshi Koiso: While preparations went really well, the more time one has, the more one tends to worry about the details. In the last couple of days, I've been gradually getting a feel for what the start might be like.

Yoshiaki Sakai: Although it took me 10 days to get over my jet lag, I'm feeling great now. I've been told that it can get quite hot during the rally, but that shouldn't be a problem because the summers in Tokushima are quite brutal too.

PHOTOS

*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.