Team Completes the First Atacama Desert Stage of this Year's Rally.

Car 2 Comes in at 18th Overall and Top in the Under 10-litre Class.
Car 1 Arrives Safety, Although its Ranking is Yet Unconfirmed.

On January 10, contestants raced the Atacama Desert for the first time this year along a course that took them from Arica to Calama in Chile. The 455km SS started off at the end of a 291km south-bound liaison (Iquique). The SS was divided into two parts, with a paved neutral zone stretching between the 229km and 326km points. The terrain featured sand dunes as well as many areas with dry powdery soil, aka "fesh-fesh." The stage proved to be a grueling one for trucks with its hard road surfaces, bumpy roads, and extremely dusty conditions. Contestants traveled through areas at elevations of nearly 3000m towards the end of the SS, and even the bivouac in Calama, which was located at the end of a 22km liaison after the SS, was situated at an elevation of 2200m in an area which was itself surrounded by mountains.

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA, which is fielding two HINO 500 Series trucks in this rally, maintained their composure as they took on this SS. This day, Car 2, which is being piloted by Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura and had received adjustments to its suspension settings at the bivouac in Arica, started off at 25th position and advanced to 15th by the time it reached CP 1 (checkpoint 1). The crew maintained their steady pace till the end, finishing the SS at 18th overall and top in the Under 10-litre class, bringing their accumulated rankings to 20th overall, and further expanding their lead in the Under 10-litre Class.

Meanwhile, Car 1, crewed by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura who have been leveraging their extensive experience and outstanding performance in the sand dune stages, sustained some damage to its rear body when it made contact with another truck as it was returning to the course after making a course error past the 20km point. This, however, did not affect the truck's performance and the crew was able to complete the SS with no problems. While the truck's ranking is yet to be confirmed, the crew arrived safely at Calama past 9pm.

On January 11, contestants will cross the Andes mountains and head for Salta, where they will pass a point at an elevation of 4975m on a liaison segment, after which they will enter Argentina where the SS for the day will be. This is expected to be a long day for the teams.

Yoshimasa Sugawara: We tried to make a U-turn on a slope, slid down, and hit another truck. While we had no problems with driving the truck, we noticed later that the frame of the rear body had been damaged considerably.

Katsumi Hamura: Slightly past the 20km point, we lost our way as we searched for a road that would take us to the left and up the hill. The left side of the rear body got hit as we were trying to get back to the correct course. There is not concern, however, as neither of us were injured.

Teruhito Sugawara: The settings adjustments turned out to be a success and we were able to drive well today. 40% of the course was made up of dry river beds, and 60% consisted of piste. There were some challenging dunes towards the beginning of the SS, and we were able to drive at relatively high speeds towards the end.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: Dusty conditions and the fact that junctures were difficult to identify on the dry river beds made this a challenging day, but we were able to reach the goal without much event and almost no course errors. We passed through areas at elevations of around 3000m towards the end, but we were not affected by elevation sickness.

*The rankings at the time when the report was written might be adjusted afterwards.

Refer to the latest ranking list of the official site.

Stage ranking
https://www.dakar.com/dakar/2013/us/stage-6/rankings/stage-trucks.html#ancre

Overall ranking
https://www.dakar.com/dakar/2013/us/stage-6/rankings/overall-trucks.html#ancre

ROUTE MAP

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.