Rally Showcased at the Ceremonial Start
Dakar Rally 2014 Kicks Off at Monumento Nacional a la Bandera

The ceremonial start of Dakar Rally 2014 was held at the Monumento Nacional a la Bandera, the National Flag Memorial, in Rosario. This event was strictly ceremonial and the actual race is set to begin tomorrow on January 5. During this showcasing event, the racing vehicles arrived one by one from the Parc-Fermes that was situated adjacent to the site, and climbed up the podium to be introduced to the enthusiastic crowd. After coming down the ramp, they made a 6km demo run through the surrounding area before returning to the Parc-Fermes.

The event was held at the base of Monumento Nacional a la Bandera which marks the site where the Argentinian flag was first flown after the country gained independence. A podium was set up beside a 70m-tall marble tower on the bank of Paran? River, and this being a Saturday, the site and nearby streets attracted a crowd of over 100,000 people.

The number of vehicles that passed vehicle inspections and were given permission to start totaled 431 including 174 bikes, 40 quads (4-wheel buggies), 147 cars, and 70 trucks. The ceremony went on for well over 6 hours as the number of entrants was large. It was around 9:00pm, 5 hours after the first quad was showcased to the crowd that HINO TEAM SUGAWARA's HINO500 Series truck appeared before the crowd.

The tradition is that trucks come to a stop beside the podium, not on it, as their bodies are too large. The crowd cheered enthusiastically when Cars 1 and 2 arrived at the podium, ushered in by the team's mechanics who were on the podium waving Hino Motors flags. The crew then joined the mechanics and waved their hands in response to the cheering crowd. The race is finally set to start from this site on January 5. The first day, contestants will be facing a 180km SS during their 809km journey to San Luis.

Yoshimasa Sugawara: Motor sports are hugely popular in Argentina, and the country is also the home country of J. M. Fangio. We are much honored to be given the opportunity to start this race from this historic site. As our truck is completely new, the first thing we will be doing when the race begins tomorrow is breaking in the truck. We will take it one step at a time. We are totally in control.

Katsumi Hamura: I was a bit anxious as the ceremony took longer than scheduled (as usual). At the same time, I was moved at the number of people on the streets late into the night. We will be putting up a solid fight starting tomorrow.

Teruhito Sugawara: This year's course seems to be a bit different from previous courses that prominently featured sand dunes. There are many high-speed segments, and some major dust hazards. During the first half of the rally, Car 2 will be running on XZL type tires that are structurally harder and provide better grip on gravel roads than the XS type tires we have been using in the past, so I am excited to see what the effects of this switch will be.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: I am getting a real sense that the rally is about to start now that we've been given our road books and received a briefing this afternoon. I got a renewed sense that we were in South America upon seeing the huge crowd lining the streets during the ceremonial start this evening.

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