Trucks Complete their Marathon Stages. Conclude the First Half of the Rally.
Car 2 finishes at an impressive 11th place overall in the SS, improving its accumulated position to 17th.

January 11 was the second day of the marathon stage, and the trucks raced on a 271km SS between the marathon bivouac on the outskirts of Iquique and Iquique. The SS was set in the same area as yesterday and the day before yesterday. Parts of the SS were combinations of reruns and re-reruns over segments raced in the last two days, so the track presented contestants with deep ruts that were created from trucks traveling these roads over and over. The courses have actually become more difficult since rocks that were previously buried in sand have now become exposed, posing the risk of tire flats. The climax of the day we the sand dune segment in last 50km of the SS. The trucks completed the day in a finish that has become a Dakar Rally tradition, where they would race down a steep 600m sand hill at Iquique and finish at the goal line set just before the bivouac.

Both HINO500 Series trucks fielded by HINO TEAM SUGAWARA completed the first day of the marathon stage, January 10, without any problems, and completed the SS this day again without incurring any damage to their trucks. Car 2 piloted by Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura finished the SS at 11th overall, within spitting distance of the top group in the overall Trucks category, and 1st place in the Under 10-litre Class. Car 1 crewed by Yoshimasa Sugawara, Yoko Wakabayashi, and Katsumi Hamura finished the SS at 24th overall and 2nd in the Class. These results improve Car 2's accumulated positions to 17th overall and 1st in its Class. Car 1's accumulated positions are now 34th overall and 2nd in its Class. (Accumulated positions are provisional)

Tomorrow (January 12), the Trucks category will have a rest day in Iquique. The team's mechanics, who have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the HINO500 Series trucks at the bivouac, wasted no time to inspect and service the trucks to give them a thorough refresh in preparation for the second half of the rally.

Yoshimasa Sugawara: I didn't get much sleep last night as it was cold at the marathon bivouac. But I've stayed away from alcohol for the past three months to condition myself so I'm feeling very good. The SS today had some areas that we had traveled on 3 times over the last couple of days so there were deep ruts in the caked soil, making it very difficult to drive.

Yoko Wakabayashi: I feel relieved knowing that this concludes the first half of the race, and I'm starting feel hungry. I will be getting a lot of sleep tomorrow and do my laundry in preparation for the second half.

Katsumi Hamura: I'm happy that we were able to finish the marathon stages without much event. The ruts were very deep as we traveled over the same roads over and over, and the dunes at the end of the SS were quite tough too.

Teruhito Sugawara: There were a number of trucks that got damaged in yesterday's marathon stage and trucks that flatted their tires in today's SS, so I think that reflected on our rankings today. That said, the quality of this year's trucks is great, and in particular the impact that the suspension upgrades have had is huge. This has allowed me to keep my foot on the gas pedal longer. I'm looking forward to the second half of the race.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: At around 100km to go in the SS, we were starting to get an air leak in the front-right tire, but we didn't stop to replace it and instead kept going by keeping the tire inflated with the CTIS (Central Tire Inflation System). It was a bit nerve wracking on the dunes, as we had to deflate the other tires and what not, but in the end, we were able to finish the day without losing any time.

Katsuyuki Nagoshi: One problem we had up to this point was the intermittent power loss on Car 2's engine. We have pretty much corrected this by replacing the turbo's waste gate. There are a few more areas that need fine tuning, such as the fuel system and the engine's altitude compensation system, but things are generally going very well.

Seiichi Suzuki: We plan to finish washing and refueling the trucks early today in preparation for our servicing on the rest day. We have no major repairs to make other than to replace the brake pads and gear oil. We have had few major problems so far this year so that's great.

Takeshi Suenaga: In the first half of the race, we replaced the stabilizer on Car 2, and adjusted the shock absorber's damping force and the coil spring's initial forces based on the driver’s request, but haven’t had to do any intense servicing. Since we have one extra mechanic working on the team, I think we will have much more elbow room as we work on the rest day.

Hironaga Hayashi: When you're inspecting bolt tightness every night, you start to notice which of the bolts are prone to getting lose, so that's one sense in which I'm getting used to the work here on the team. I was able to rest well last night so I'm in good physical condition. I intend to remain focused on my work so that I don't make any mistakes.

Shunsuke Sugawara: Time just flew by in the first half of the race. We've only 5 more days to go. I've heard stories of what the race is like from other mechanics who have been here before, but we haven't come across any accidents and it seems we're seeing relatively fewer problems with the trucks.

Hiroya Fukuno: We work at night and it's always morning before you know it, so time has really just zipped by. I had some stomach problems earlier in the race, but I'm fine now. The rice balls that we get every once in a while are a great treat.

Takashi Masuda: On Car 2, we've had to weld the rear body stays, and adjust the cab mount among other things, but we basically haven't had any problems with the truck. I hope things will continue to go well in the second half.

* 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.

Photos

Route Map