The Teruhito Sugawara, Hirokazu Somemiya, and Yuji Mochizuki crew of HINO TEAM SUGAWARA, running the HINO 600 Series equipped with a hybrid mechanism, reached the goal of 25th place overall in the Trucks category, raising their cumulative ranking to 23rd overall through January 3.

We had originally planned to go to Al Tarwiyah on the day of the marathon, but the bivouac was flooded due to the recent rains, so we hurriedly changed our destination to Al Qaisumah, which was scheduled for the 4th. In addition, the 3-4 day “marathon itinerary” scheduled for Al Altawiya as an intermediate bivouac without assistance, was also cancelled.

The 338.43 km SS (competition segment) remains unchanged, with a new 270 km liaison (travel segment) from the finish line near Al Tarwiyah to Al Qaisumah.

The SS consisted mainly of high-speed sandy roads and dune crossing, with a 20-minute neutral zone at 207 km, followed by challenging (level 2) dunes at 270-325 km. The final stage was a high-speed plateau run to the finish line.

The HINO 600 Series of the HINO Team was refreshed by the mechanics’ all-night work last night, and went smoothly into the SS of the day. While driving through the dunes in the middle of the SS, the Team suddenly experienced a problem where the power steering stopped working, but mechanic Mochizuki and his teammates were able to replace the parts in about 25 minutes. After that, there were no more problems and the team drove through the race quietly.

On the 4th, the itinerary was changed again, and the competition is held on a loop course based on Al Qahma.

Teruhito Sugawara
One typical effect of the hybrid is to re-accelerate from a lower engine speed after descending a sand dune, but today I could feel a clear assist even when accelerating full throttle in top gear on a sandy hillside. There are various minor problems, but we will deal with them one by one as we go along.

Hirokazu Somemiya
There were no situations where I couldn’t find the GPS waypoints like yesterday, so it was a day with no navigation difficulties. The sun set about 3 to 40 km before the finish line, and the sun was very beautiful. We will do our best again tomorrow.

Yuji Mochizuki
The high-pressure hose for the power steering was replaced during the SS. It’s a pity because we wanted to make up for yesterday’s delay. I hope we can all work hard again tomorrow.