The eighth stage on 13 January was from Al Dwadimi to the capital city of Riyadh. A 488 km SS (competition section) was set up on a route that largely bypassed the southern side of the service route to the east.

On this day, the 2-wheel and 4-wheel courses were set separately. The four-wheeled road surface was mainly gravel, but there were sand, rocky areas, and sand dunes, and the road surface was varied as on the previous day.

The HINO600 of Hino Team Sugawara solemnly approached this long course. The setting alternates between high-speed and low-speed sections, and the navigation was complicated from the beginning, but it passed without any problems. I continued to run while competing for 8th ~ 9th place in the truck division.

However, at the 250km mark, the oil temperature of the transfer rose to 150°C, so it stopped. At the same time, the center differential lock built into the transfer was not engaged. They checked the oil cooler on the side of the course, but they could not find the cause, so they changed the oil and resumed running at a reduced pace while checking the oil temperature. When the center differential is not locked, the driving force is easy to escape, and the running performance decreases, increasing the risk of getting stuck. For this reason, in the final dune section, we decided to aim for the goal without passing through the eight GPS points. We arrived at the goal safely. As a result of a 2 hour and 1 minute penalty for failing to pass a GPS point (waypoint), the SS ranking was 137th overall in the 4-wheel category and 17th in the track category. As a result, the cumulative ranking dropped to 67th place in the overall four-wheel category and 10th place in the truck category.

After crossing the SS, they traveled 178 km of liaison to reach a bivouac set up on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh. The mechanics who had prepared a replacement transfer and were waiting immediately began to inspect it. On the 14th, the competition will be held between Riyadh ~ Harad.

Teruhito Sugawara
It's unfortunate that we had trouble, but we chose the next best thing that would allow us to finish safely with minimal delays and penalties. Come to think of it, the center differential lock has been difficult to enter since yesterday. I'll do my best again tomorrow.

Hirokazu Somemiya
There are some level 2 sand dunes at the end of the game, and GPS points are placed in reasonably difficult places, so we judged that the risk of getting stuck was high without the center differential lock. I'm glad I got here safely.

Yuji Mochizuki
After the oil temperature rose, there was no noise as if the gear was broken, but the high frequency that increases in proportion to the vehicle speed can be faintly heard. It's frustrating, but I want to investigate the cause thoroughly.