The route for the day was from Riyadh to Riyadh. A 394.81 km SS (competition segment) was set up on a loop-shaped course that started and finished in the same area. HINO TEAM SUGAWARA’s HINO 600 Series trucks equipped with the hybrid system continued to perform well as they did yesterday. The team crossed the finish line at 12th place overall in the Truck category, moving up one spot to 19th overall.

On the 6th and 7th, the competition was held on a loop course based in the capital city of Riyadh. On the 6th, 4-wheelers and trucks competed on the northern course. The road surface of the SS was mainly sandy with wheel tracks, where the Team could increase their speed, but there were also slow sections with a lot of stones and reasonably difficult dune crossing. The effects of the recent rainfall could be seen everywhere, and there were places where the sand was heavy and the wadi (dry river bed) was boggy, making it difficult to pass. As on the previous day, the section through the sandy hills had many parallel wadis, making navigation difficult.

The Teruhito Sugawara, Hirokazu Somemiya, and Yuji Mochizuki crew of the HINO Team completed this SS without a hitch. Aside from some unusual noises coming from the rear of the truck in response to road vibrations, the Team had no other problems and crossed the finish line at a steady pace. Having succeeded in preventing the capacitor case from shaking, which affects handling stability, the Team made fine adjustments to the rear suspension settings at the bivouac last night, and confirmed the effects during this day’s run.

Teruhito Sugawara
Today I was able to confirm that the rear suspension has improved. We are concerned about the noise coming from the back, but first things first, we are making good progress. It is difficult to find the best setting for the hybrid control as it depends on the stage conditions, but we will continue to try.

Hirokazu Somemiya
In today’s navigation, the cup (direction) indicated by the road book changed frequently, and it was difficult to choose the correct one among the multiple wheel tracks.

Yuji Mochizuki
There is a control that stores the power generated by the engine in a capacitor when the engine has enough power, but there was a situation today where it did not work properly. Other than that, there were no major problems.