SS07 was held on hilly highlands at elevations approaching 4000 meters. The Hino 500 crew of Team Sugawara from Japan stuck to risk-averse driving to complete the stage at 13th place overall. This brought the truck's standings so far to 7th place in overall accumulated rankings, and top position in the Under 10-litre Class.

"Things are going pretty much as planned," said Teruhito Sugawara. "I think the fact that we've been able to clock good time even with our risk-averse driving goes to show how good the truck is. Needless to say, we had no problems. We will continue at this pace on Sunday as well."

Navigator Mitsugu Takahashi added: "Navigation was actually not that difficult. We essentially had no problems with the truck other than a slightly bent bumper and a minor oil leak on the front hub. We will be retightening all the parts in preparation for Sunday."

The camp at Uyuni was a marathon bivouac where teams were not allowed access to their assistance squads. While driving crews were allowed to service their vehicles with parts that they had on hand, they could receive no assistance from other team staff. The Teruhito Sugawara and Mitsugu Takahashi crew of the HINO500 Series Car 2 found no major problems with their truck.

As such, in the servicing bivouac that was off limits to all but driving crews, they calmly proceeded to inspect and service their truck, as well as retighten the components that had been replaced the day before.

Photos: Hino Team

SHARE THIS ARTICLE