Stage 3 was a loop course based in AlUla. A 421km SS (Special Stage) was held in the mountainous area north of the bivouac. Particularly from the midpoint onward, there were many stones, and not a few vehicles suffered punctures, but HINO TEAM SUGAWARA's HINO 600 Series (Teruhito Sugawara / Hirokazu Somemiya / Yuji Mochizuki crew) finished without any trouble, never stopping once, in 113th place overall in the four-wheel division / 12th place in the truck class. As a result of this, the cumulative ranking up to this day is 103rd place overall, maintaining 9th place in the truck class.

The area around AlUla is primarily sandy off-road, but the road surface has many sharp stones, and there are also rough rock formations, making the risk of punctures high. This day's SS also started from a high-speed piste on sandy terrain, but gradually became a winding route threading through sandy canyons, with technical rocky terrain also appearing. The latter half frequently featured bumpy roads with hard surfaces interspersed with high-speed sandy terrain. After the goal, there was a 251km liaison (transport section) to the bivouac. Including the 64km liaison to the SS start, it was a long haul totaling 736km.

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA attacked this SS while fully utilizing the vehicle's performance but without pushing too hard, paying attention to punctures. Although rival large vehicles took the lead in the deep sand power sections, they gradually gained positions in the technical areas.

The first marathon stage, with no assistance crew at the intermediate bivouac, is scheduled for the 7th to 8th. The team, having succeeded in maintaining their current good condition heading into the highlight of the first half, returned to the AlUla bivouac after the goal and began thorough inspection and maintenance.

Teruhito Sugawara
We maintained a good pace steadily without pushing too hard. We saw many participants stopped with punctures, so we think things went well for us. With this, we can tackle the first-half marathon in perfect condition.

Hirokazu Somemiya
Overall things went smoothly, but today I made one mistake. At a point exiting from the rocky area in the latter half, I was distracted by the ruts of the vehicle ahead and missed the timing to indicate the exit angle (bearing). That was a waste. Also, my throat is suffering from the dust, which is tough.

Yuji Mochizuki
The vehicle is running so smoothly that there's almost nothing to comment on. Just some noise in the data logger. Tomorrow is the marathon stage with no assistance, so I, as the onboard mechanic, will do my best.

*Rankings are provisional as of 2:30 AM Japan time