Contestants race a long 817km stage between Uyuni and Salta.
Car 1 was stuck partially through the race, but is now heading for the goal.

January 9: The last day of the first week took contestants from Uyuni, Bolivia to Salta, Argentina on a long 817km stage, including a total of 366 kilometers of Specials.

Starting out from the bivouac in Uyuni, the day's course first took contestants on a 33km liaison, and then on to a 230km SS. This was followed by a 116km neutral zone which straddled the Bolivian-Argentine border, after which contestants were met with another 106km SS in Argentina. This day again, the course consisted primarily of mountain roads and pistes on hilly terrain at altitudes in the 3500-4000m range. Midway through the day, the area was met with intense thundershowers and hail, which forced organizers to cancel the latter portion of the SS for motorbikes, while cars and trucks were given the green light to race on.

The Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura crew put up a daring yet solid fight this stage to bring Car 2 to an 18th place finish in the overall Trucks category, and top in the Under 10-litre Class. The 332km liaison segment that came after the SS was flooded in a number of areas, delaying the trucks' arrival at Salta. Car 1 piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Mitsugu Takahashi got stuck earlier in the day and is now en route on the latter half of the SS. They have yet to finish the SS as of this writing, but are in good shape and heading for the finish line.

The assistance crew also had to travel 1050km this day, and it was already past 10pm by the time the advance party arrived. At the bivouac that was set up in the convention center, team mechanics were seen carrying out preparatory work for the intense inspections and servicing work that they will be performing on the trucks on January 10, a day of rest for the driving crews.

* Neither of the trucks have arrived as of this writing, so we are including this report now as it is getting late.