With its sights set on finishing high in the overall rankings and winning its seventh straight class championship at Dakar Rally 2016, HINO TEAM SUGAWARA has positioned the China Grand Rally as its second training ground after Rally Mongolia. 2015 will mark first time the team will be entering the China rally.

Mechanical Problem Forces Team to Make Painful Withdrawal from Rally Mongolia 2015

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA conducted a week of individual driving training in Mongolia, after which it entered Rally Mongolia 2015 in great shape. While the team's truck climbed to the top rankings among all entrants in all categories the day before the finish, it suffered a bitter mechanical problem in the last stage that forced the team to withdraw from the race.
Here is what Teruhito Sugawara had to say about the result.

Teruhito Sugawara, driver

We unfortunately had to withdraw from the race, but I got a good feeling for how well the truck has turned out. We've already taken countermeasures to address this particular problem.

While it was a disappointment for all of us that rally records will have us down as "withdrawn," I've been getting positive feedback from the truck like never before in terms of its overall readiness, so this turned out to be a very meaningful two weeks for going forward. We also had the mechanics from Hino dealerships join us for the Mongolia camp for the first time this year, and were able to enter the race in great shape with an ample supply of spare parts.

The Dakar Rally has been trending toward higher speeds in recent years, so in addition to upgrading our engine, we've also been fine-tuning and shaving weight off the suspension systems that will be bearing the engine's power.
We also made improvements to organizational aspects of the team in preparation for this year's Rally Mongolia. Although in past years we've been testing the truck during the actual rally, this year we spent the first week in Mongolia focusing on testing our new suspension systems, which have been designed near the limits of their minimum requirements. We also went through multiple trial-and-error processes to fine-tune the settings for the truck as a whole. As a result, we were able to increase our average speed by about 10% overall. This, however, led to an accumulation of metal fatigue, causing our rear suspension to give out on the last day of the rally, unfortunately forcing us to withdraw. Since our first Rally Mongolia victory in the overall trucks category was right before our very eyes, this was a huge disappointment for both myself and everyone on the team. That said, our focus in past Rally Mongolia events had always been on finishing the rally above all else, even though we did partially position it as a test run. So this made it a bit of challenge to test the truck so aggressively.
The opportunity we were given this year was quite fruitful, as we were able to check the vehicle itself, particularly in the area of durability, as well as carry out driving training with a focus on improving our time.
As a driver, I can say the truck is leaps and bounds ahead of the previous truck in terms of riding comfort. And there were many more instances than with the previous truck when I could step on the gas pedal and speed down rough terrain without using the brakes.
We had a meeting with the development team at Hino immediately after we got home and have already taken steps to ensure durability.

With four months ahead of us until the Dakar Rally, we're all committed to doing what each of us is here to do.

Team To Enter China Silk Road Rally for the First Time

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA will be making its first entry in the China Silk Road Rally (host country: China), which will take contestants over a distance of roughly 7,900 kilometers over a period of 13 days from August 30 to September 11, 2015. The team will be positioning this rally as another testing ground after Rally Mongolia, carrying out further tests on truck upgrades and honing driver and navigator skills. This will be the first time in team history that it will be racing in three rallies, including the Dakar Rally, over the course of a single year.

China Silk Road Rally 2015 Overview and Team Organization

Route Map

Team Organization

Peru Segments of Dakar Rally 2016 Canceled

While the initial announcement for Dakar Rally 2016 listed Peru, Bolivia and Argentina as host countries, organizers have announced that the Peru segments will be canceled due to the effects of this year's El Niño. Organizers will be announcing a new route in mid-September.