Dakar Rally 2013 Crosses the Andes into Argentina

Car 2 Improves its Position to 18th Overall
Car 1 Encounters Engine Problems in Highlands

On January 11, Dakar Rally 2013 traversed across the Andes Mountains into Argentina. This day, contestants first headed towards the Andes via a 417km liaison along the Calama coast from their bivouac in Chile. They passed a point at an elevation of 4975m along the way and then crossed the border into Argentina. The 218km SS for the day was set in Argentina and consisted primarily of hard piste, followed by a 116km liaison which took them to their bivouacs at a convention center in the city of Salta. This was a long day of driving for all teams.

The Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura crew, who pilot HINO TEAM SUGAWARA's Car 2, came in 20th overall in the Trucks category the day before, and completed the SS for this day in solid fashion. They came in at 20th overall and top in the Under 10-litre class bringing their accumulated ranking to 18th overall. They continue to maintain their top position in their class, having already extended their time difference with the runner up, the Johan Elfrink crew (Mercedes Benz Axor), to 3 hours 24 minutes and 06 seconds.

Meanwhile, the rear body of Car 1, piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura, underwent repairs the previous night to repair the damage sustained in an accident in yesterday's SS. However, there was no remedy for keeping water temperatures from rising at elevations that exceeded 3000m and the crew was forced to go easy on the gas pedal. As a result, the crew had to contend with coming in at 49th overall and 7th in the class, bringing their accumulated rankings to 29th overall and 5th in the class.

January 12 will be the last day of the first half of the race and contestants will race a 471km SS between Salta and Tucuman. However, organizers are apparently being forced to discuss the possibility of shortening or even canceling the SS due to the rain that has begun falling tonight.

Yoshimasa Sugawara: Even in the liaison, the water temperature would rise as we climbed higher, and that kept us from going full throttle in the SS. The dust was pretty severe too, so this was quite a treacherous SS.

Katsumi Hamura: We had to keep our eye on the temperature gauge throughout the race to make sure that the engine didn't overheat. The course was predominantly piste, which made it challenging to overtake other vehicles.

Teruhito Sugawara: At one point in the race, we were overtaken by a truck that came from behind but we caught up to it in the section towards the end where the course got narrow. This was a course that didn't let anyone reap big time differences. While breathing was a bit of a challenge due to altitude, it wasn't anything we couldn't bear for 2 hours.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: I had to take some medication as I don't do very well at high altitudes, and I'm relieved that that didn't affect my navigation. I did get a headache though.

*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-7/rankings/stage-trucks.html#ancre

Overall ranking
https://www.dakar.com/dakar/2013/us/stage-7/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.