Car 1, which was forced to withdraw in stage 2,
joins the race in a "Semi-Marathon."

Car 2 climbs to 10th place in overall rankings after stage 6

Sunday, Jan 13: Dakar Rally 2019 contestants began their second half of the event, racing for 289 km from Arequipa to San Juan de Marcona, Peru. This day's racers counted 105 bikes, 18 four-wheeled bikes (quads), 69 cars, 24 small four-wheelers (SxS), and 30 trucks. Since the day's stage was set in the desert on the outskirts of Marcona, the bikes started off from Arequipa the night before, and cars and trucks left early in the morning. They reached the starting point at the end of a long 443 km liaison route. This meant that the SS (Special Stage) start time would be later in the day, with cars and trucks to make a mixed start in the order of their clocked time in the previous stage. It was already three minutes past noon by the time HINO TEAM SUGAWARA's HINO500 Series truck took off as the 12th racer out of the gate.

The SS was made up of two segments. The first was a short 57 km segment where racers were punished by the soft sand and intense ups and downs of the Tanaka dunes, one of the most challenging terrains in the previous event. The Teruhito Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura crew pushed on by leveraging their HINO500 Series truck's outstanding performance over rough terrain, completing the dunes without any problems and climbing to 9th position. They then traveled on an 18 km neutral zone before reaching the second 232 km half of the SS. This segment also served up non-stop sand and fesh-fesh (sedimentation of extremely soft and powdery soil) which bogged down numerous racers. Towards the end of the stage, the crew was forced to wait for the road to clear after a vehicle ahead of them had tipped over and closed the road. There was also the unfortunate mishap where they missed one way point (a GPS point that racers are required to pass) in the dunes. Nonetheless, they arrived safely at the finish line shortly after 6 pm. The truck's provisional position was at 9th place overall even with the one-hour penalty they incurred from missing the way point, pushing them up to 10th place in overall accumulated rankings. The crew then traveled on a 57 km liaison segment, arriving safely at the bivouac in Marcona at around 7:30 pm. While the truck sustained damage to its front bumper and panel in the dune areas, it was spared of any major problems. This 807 km stage was the longest in this year's event.

Meanwhile, this was also the starting day of the "Semi-Marathon" where contestants who were forced to withdraw in the early stages were given a chance to race the second half of the race. The Yoshimasa Sugawara and Ahito Sakurai crew piloting HINO500 Series Car 1, who to their great chagrin had to retire in Stage 2, also entered the Semi-Marathon. Since this group will be driving on the same course as the contestants, their starting times were pushed back so as not to affect the competition. Car 1 took off from the SS starting line at 1:06 pm. As of this writing at 10:00 pm local time, the crew has passed CP (checkpoint) 2 in the second half of the stage and is still on their way.

Tomorrow, Monday, Jan 14th, will have contestants competing on a 323 km loop course based out of Marcona.

Teruhito Sugawara (Driver, Car 2)
We were the 7th to cross the finish line today, but I think we will be penalized for missing our last way point. There was also the single road in the canyon towards the end where another vehicle had tipped over and many of us were stuck waiting. The organizers eventually came in to remove the vehicle and organize the area, and I think they will void the time that we lost there. In any case, today was an opportune day for us so it was unfortunate that we couldn't make the best of it.

Katsumi Hamura (Navigator, Car 2)
I'm really disappointed about missing the waypoint. The waypoint was on the top of a dune, and once we started down without passing it, there was no way we could climb back up. It was a tough day with a lot of dunes.

Mechanics and driver Teruhito Sugawara go over servicing details.

Teruhito Sugawara seen here by Car 2 with its front area damaged in the dunes.

Navigator Katsumi Hamura arrives safely in Marcona.

Mechanics inspect Car 2.