Car 2 Completes the Last Atacama Stage at 15th in the SS.
Car 1 is also en route in great form.

Dakar Rally 2015 is now off to its second half. On January 13, contestants raced on a 450km SS in Chile between Iquique and Calama. The SS started on the east side of the town of Iquique, 51km away from the bivouac. The first half of the SS took contestants into areas on which they had repeatedly traveled in the Antofagasta-Iquique leg, the outskirts of Iquique, and in the marathon stages (Trucks category only). Contestants were face with dunes early in the race. The second half featured long stretches of hard road surfaces in the intermountain areas near Calama, which were included in the last year’s rally. This stage again proved to be one that tested the teams’ perseverance with profuse dust being kicked up in fesh-fesh segments and dried riverbeds, as well as the region’s 3000m elevation.

Both HINO500 Series trucks fielded by HINO TEAM SUGAWARA delivered solid performance in this SS. While the trucks started after all the cars today, Car 2 piloted by Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura started relatively early at 14th spot. The crew completed the dunes smoothly, and completed the rest of the SS error-free, finishing the stage at 15th overall and top in the Under 10-litre Class. This brings Car 2’s accumulated position to 15th overall (provisional), for a gradual improvement in its position despite the harsh conditions, showcasing the capabilities of this veteran team.

Car 1 piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara, Yoko Wakabayashi, and Katsumi Hamura was the 26th to start today. The crew raced carefully throughout the day, passing the way point before the finish line at 32nd place for the stage. The truck has not yet arrived as of 11:00pm local time and is expected to arrive soon.

The bivouac in Calama was set up adjacent to an airfield on a plateau 2200m above sea level, where the nights can get bitterly cold even during the summer months. At the Hino team’s bivouac, the mechanics, who had been standing by, got to work as soon as Car 2 arrived at around 8:00pm. Tomorrow (January 14), contestants will once again cross the Andes Mountains back into Argentina, racing on a 359km SS that has been set on the way to the bivouac in Salta.

Teruhito Sugawara: This was the last dune segment for this year, and we were able to complete it smoothly as we had studied some of the segments ahead of time. The performance potential of the upgraded Hino trucks this year is obvious. While the courses were generally more difficult, today again, I think we were about 30 minutes faster than in previous years.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: The second half of the day with its many pistes on wide open plateau was quite challenging in terms of navigation. We’ve sustained some body damage as the roads were quite rough, but I don’t think there will be any problems.

* 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.

YouTube by J SPORTS
Dakar Rally 2015 - Playlist
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2qHJ6JYuHy3EIASRdVzA-Cjj2Ek2eQD7

Photos

Route Map