Car 2 completes marathon stage with no complications.

Maintains its top position in the Under 10-litre Class.

Teams gear up for the climax of the first week, the marathon stage where racers make a round trip from Arequipa to the Tacna bivouac and back. At Tacna, crews must park their racing vehicles in a closed area (closed park) where they are unable to receive any service or parts supplies from their mechanics. If any servicing work is needed, it must be performed by the drivers and navigators with the tools and parts they have on hand. Any damage to their racing vehicles on day one of this marathon stage can affect their performance on the second day, so drivers exercised extra caution racing this day. HINO TEAM SUGAWARA mechanics had carried out thorough inspections and servicing before the start, replacing the truck's rear axle leaf springs, and changing the truck's engine oil, fan belts and other parts to bring their truck to tip-top shape.

The starting point for the day's competition was 85 km away from the Arequipa bivouac on a liaison route. The SS (Special Stage) was divided into two parts, the first part being 205 km long and the second extending another 146 km. The Teruhito Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura crew piloting their HINO500 Series truck remained aggressive but took no excessive risks in these segments, ending the day at 15th place in the overall trucks category and 1st place in the Under 10-litre Class.
Although this lowered their cumulative overall position by one to 13th, the truck kept its top position in the Under 10-litre Class, and the crew is on track to win their tenth straight class championship.

It was past 7 pm by the time the HINO500 Series truck reached the Tacna bivouac. After refueling their truck, the Teruhito Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura crew carried out inspections at the aforementioned closed park to prepare for the stage the following day on Friday, Jan 11. This will be the second day of the marathon stage and also marks the end of the first week of the rally. The crew will have their rest day as soon as they are back in Arequipa.

The Teruhito Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura crew on Car 2 delivered another day of brilliant racing. They completed the dunes in the early parts of the day without any issues, finishing at 10th place overall. These results brought the truck's cumulative standing to 12th overall as it wedged its way into the ranks of some of its larger rivals such as Kamaz and Tatra. The truck also held on to its top position in the Under 10-litre Class.

Thursday, Jan 10 will take racers on this event's only marathon stage, a stage where the bivouac at their destination in Tacna will be a marathon bivouac. This means that they will not be able to receive support from their mechanics. The crews have only themselves to rely on for inspections and repairs, so depending on how things turn out, this could create a situation that could potentially affect their race on the 11th. Given the challenges that their crew faced the following day, Hino team mechanics were extra thorough in performing their preventive servicing.

Teruhito Sugawara (Driver, Car 2)
We maintained a risk-averse pace today since this was the first day of the marathon stage. The first half of the SS was mostly fesh-fesh (sedimentation of extremely soft and fine powdery soil) and the second half featured courses with ups and downs including rock-strewn dried riverbeds. We didn't have any problems with the truck so we will keep our inspections simple and then rest for tomorrow.

Katsumi Hamura (Navigator, Car 2)
There was surprisingly a lot of traffic in Tacna and we even got stuck in a traffic jam. I was also surprised that the bivouac was set up on a military installation on the outskirts of town. In terms of navigating the SS, I paid special attention to accurately matching up the cup (direction meter) on the off road sections in the first half. I will do my best tomorrow as well.

Crew chooses their course carefully in the marathon stage where they receive no assistance from mechanics.

Driver and navigator are in sync as they head for the goal.

Crew is careful with their truck as they drive over intense ups and downs.

No major problems for the truck so far up to Stage 4.