The seventh stage of Dakar 2025, the 12th itinerary, is a loop course based at Al Dwadimi. A 419 km SS (competition section) was held in the southwestern part of the city.

After repairing the brake problem on the 11th, Hino Team Sugawara's HINO600 series ran smoothly in the SS on that day, finishing 93rd in the four-wheel category and 9th in the truck division. The cumulative standings were 51st overall in the four-wheel category, retaining the position of 7th in the truck division. He is currently 1:23:16 behind Martin van den Brink (Iveco) in sixth place and 15:08 behind Vaidtas Zara (Iveco) in eighth place.

The HINO600 brakes are air-over-hydraulic, which generates braking force by hydraulically generated by compressed air. The cause of the trouble the previous day was a defective oil seal on the right front wheel brake caliper, and as a precaution, all four wheels were replaced to ensure that everything was in order.

For this day's itinerary, separate courses were set for 2 and 4 wheels. Nearly half of the road surface in the four-wheeled section was gravel, but there were many rocky and rickety roads, and the stage was full of variations, such as sandy ruts with stones and sand dunes.

Although the A09C 8.9L engine of the HINO600 series does not have the maximum torque value of the 13-liter engine for large vehicles, it is able to compete with larger rivals by making extensive use of the low range of the two-speed auxiliary transmission built into the transfer in order to take advantage of the output characteristics that are good at mid-to-high revs. Especially on the sand stage, the driver who specializes in sand dunes is as fast as his rivals, but on hard roads, the large cars have the advantage of power. In a stage like this one, the ranking fluctuated from 14th ~ 8th place depending on the change in the road surface, and the Hino team, which ran without mistakes until the end, succeeded in improving its position at the end and finished in 9th place.

On the 13th, a 488km race is scheduled for the journey to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Teruhito Sugawara
Today is a good day with no trouble. I had the impression that there were more rickety roads than I expected. In those sections, the big machines are fast. At the last dune, I felt the effects of the rainfall just before, but the dust was also terrible.

Hirokazu Somemiya
From this year's tournament, a penalty will be imposed on vehicles that do not avoid the overtaking vehicle even after using the Sanchinel that transmits the intention to overtake to the preceding vehicle by radio waves three times. However, there are people who abuse the rules and use Sanchinel from far in front of them to slow down their opponent's pace and overtake them, which I think is a problem.

Yuji Mochizuki
I was able to finish today without any trouble. However, my lower back hurts because I have been sitting in a cramped position for a long time.