On January 6, Stage5
Tupiza (Bolivia) - Oruro (Bolivia)
Liaison: 54km, SS: 219km, Liaison: 320km Total: 593km

The itinerary for Jan. 6 took contestants from Tupiza to Oruro, both in Bolivia, where teams raced a 219km SS in the intermountain areas near Uyuni. While the original plan called for two SSs―with a neutral zone near the town of Uyuni in between―for a total SS distance of 438km, organizers were forced to cancel the second half as the terrain was seriously affected by rain that had been falling for the last few days. As a result, all contestants headed for the bivouac in Oruro on a liaison route.

After climbing to 4000m altitudes in the first half of the day, contestants raced in some areas that featured farm fields and field ridges built of sand. The terrain was generally moist due to the rain and there were many slippery areas. HINO TEAM SUGAWARA's Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura duo continued to maintain their cool as they took on this SS. They drove error-free in areas that were particularly challenging for navigation, and finished at 9th place overall―joining the top ten groups for the first time in this year's rally. Car 1 piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Mitsugu Takahashi delivered a solid performance and finished 38th overall in the SS. As of this writing at 9:30 pm, Car 1 is still on its way to the bivouac on the liaison route.

Based on these results, Car 2 boosted its accumulated ranking as of Jan. 6 to 12th place (preliminary), and Car 2 was at 32nd. The team continues to maintain its 1-2 standing in the Under 10-litre Class.

The bivouac in Oruro was set at an elevation of 3500m. Heavy downpours began later in the afternoon, turning the ground into a mud field. Numerous vehicles were bogged and struggling to break free. With these factors combined with the severe cold, mechanics had to work under extreme conditions servicing the trucks.

Organizers announced that they will be shortening the stage for tomorrow, Jan. 7, again due to the rain. Start times will be pushed back by two hours and the start line will be moved to the 21.35km point. CP4 will be the new finish line for the day, and from there contestants will take a paved liaison route to La Paz.

Teruhito Sugawara: This was a risky SS as the rain made the surfaces quite slippery. I think our good performance comes from a combination of two factors: We are driving a better truck, and navigation is more difficult this year.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: There are waypoints along the way that you won't be able to check unless you followed the road book to the tee. I'm happy that we were able to check all of these. Our truck is doing just fine.

Please also take a look below at the updates on the mechanics we received yesterday.