The Dakar Rally 2026 commenced its second half on January 11th with a 459km competition stage between Riyadh and Wadi Ad-Dawasir in Saudi Arabia. The HINO 600 Series (Teruhito Sugawara/Hirokazu Somemiya/Yuji Mochizuki crew) of HINO TEAM SUGAWARA competing in the truck class, finished this SS in 102nd place overall in the four-wheel division and 11th in class. As a result, they maintained their cumulative position at 88th overall and 8th in the truck class.

On this day, they traveled south-southwest from Riyadh via a 278km liaison (transfer section) to reach the SS (special stage) starting point. The SS mainly consisted of wide gravel roads, with sandy surfaces appearing midway and sand dunes emerging. Each dune was large and could be crossed without detouring, making the overall setting high-speed.

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA approached this SS while continuing to maintain good form. In the sand dune sections, they drove smoothly by effectively using the L-range of the sub-transmission. Even in sections with continuous high loads, temperatures in all parts remained problem-free, and they arrived at the goal in daylight without any troubles.

After the goal, they headed south again via a 140km liaison and arrived at the bivouac set up near the airport in Wadi Ad-Dawasir. A long day with a total distance of 877km came to an end.

On the 12th, a 483km SS will be held on a loop course based in Wadi Ad-Dawasir, featuring sand dunes. Following this, on the 13th-14th, a second marathon stage is scheduled on the route from there to Bisha, indicating a series of highly difficult stages ahead.

Teruhito Sugawara
Although there were some twisty sections, it was an overall high-speed day. The car was in good condition, and we crossed the sand dunes smoothly. Since the distance was long, I was concerned about sunset, but I'm glad we could reach the goal while it was still light.

Hirokazu Somemiya
For navigation, there were many sections where we had to proceed while paying attention to CAP (bearing) through numerous parallel wheel tracks. The sand dunes mainly consisted of large ascents and descents, and we were able to pass through GPS waypoints with only minor corrections and without any time loss.

Yuji Mochizuki
There was a slight increase in drivetrain oil temperature at points where sand dune loads were applied, but it was within the expected range. We drove through the sand dunes almost entirely in L-range, and the responsive driving while maintaining high engine RPM was exhilarating.