The January 15th route was from Bisha to Al Henakiyah. It was a massive 882km journey heading straight north from southwestern Saudi Arabia, with a 346km SS (Special Stage) set up in the hilly terrain along the way. HINO TEAM SUGAWARA (Teruhito Sugawara/Hirokazu Somemiya/Yuji Mochizuki crew), competing in the truck class with the HINO600 series, encountered a malfunction during the run and lost approximately 30 minutes. They finished 134th overall in the four-wheel division and 17th in class, bringing their cumulative standings through this day to 93rd overall and 9th in class.

The SS started from a point 328km north of Bisha via liaison (transport section). According to the organizers, the course running through hills parallel to the assistance route was the fastest of this event, with surface conditions varying from gravel with multiple ruts to wadis (dry riverbeds) and shotts (salt lakes). The final section passed through rocky terrain before reaching the goal.

HINO TEAM SUGAWARA started in 14th position in class but soon stopped due to a malfunction in the crew's intercom (communication device between crew members). The repair took approximately 13 minutes, and their position dropped to 38th at the 43km checkpoint. From there, HINO TEAM SUGAWARA pushed hard and climbed back up to 20th by the 120km point, but then the right panel of the rear body--which had been damaged in the previous day's rollover and repaired--began to come loose due to vibration, forcing them to stop again. Emergency repairs took about 15 minutes. This dropped their position to 30th at the 156km checkpoint, but the HINO600 driven by the Sugawara/Somemiya/Mochizuki crew continued pushing through severe dust clouds and recovered to 17th place by the time they reached the goal.

After completing the SS, they merged onto the assistance route and traveled 208km via liaison (transport section) to Al Henakiyah. They safely arrived at the bivouac around 7 PM, after sunset.

On the 16th, they will finally head to Yanbu, the start/finish location, with 311km of competition scheduled.

Teruhito Sugawara
It was a high-speed stage, but there were many large sharp stones in the sandy surface and fesh-fesh of the wadis, so we drove carefully. The dust kicked up by preceding vehicles was also terrible. Tomorrow's SS on the way to Yanbu is also a course that winds through mountains, so the dust will likely be severe there too."

Hirokazu Somemiya
When we put on our helmets at the SS start, we were shocked that no one could hear the intercom. When pushing to catch up, the dust from preceding vehicles was so bad that we ran outside the ruts and returned to course where waypoints were located."

Yuji Mochizuki
The rear body's outer panel mounting that we fixed last night came loose from the base of the hinge and was half-open. It's frustrating that we couldn't improve our position when the engine, drivetrain, and vehicle body are in perfect condition. There are only a few stages remaining, but we want to do everything we can and reach the goal without any time loss."

*Rankings are provisional as of 5 AM Japan time on the 16th.