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Hino celebrates decade of desert dominance

Hino took out the Under 10-litre class in the 2019 Dakar Rally in Peru, marking the manufacturer's tenth year on top

 

Hino Team Sugawara’s Car 2 pilots Teruhito Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura were victorious across 12 days and 10 gruelling stages,  finishing 9th overall and beating even larger rivals to the finish line.

For this year’s Dakar Rally Hino Team Sugawara built a new Car 2 truck for Teruhito Sugawara, which propelled it to its goal of 10 straight championships in the Under 10-litre class.
 
An unfortunate problem saw Hino Team Suguwara’s Car 1, crewed by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Ahito Sakurai, withdraw in the early stages of the challenging rally.
 
“It was a tough course, and I would like to congratulate Car 2 for delivering Hino Team Sugawara its 10th successive victory in the Under 10 litre class – as always, we will use our experiences in this year’s Dakar Rally to further enhance our products,” says President & CEO of Hino Motors Limited, Yoshio Shimo
 
Driver of Car 2 Teruhito Sugawara is pleased with his result and promises to push forward in future races.
 
“With the new truck, we have seen opportunities to improve, and we’re looking forward to taking these learnings to achieve even greater results,” Sugawara says.
 
Yoshimasa Sugawara is the Guinness World Record holder for Most Consecutive Entries (35) and Most Consecutive Finishes (20) and was understandably disappointed with his second successive retirement when Car 1 had to withdraw from the race.
 
Hino Australia’s Head of Customer and Brand Dimitri Andreatidis congratulates the team on its success.
 
“Once again, Hino demonstrated its reliability by delivering a 10th successive class victory, which is an incredible result given that only 34 per cent of trucks actually finished the rally,” Andreatidis says.
 
“At Hino Australia, we are extremely proud of the “Little Monster” trucks and their long list of achievements.”
 
Both of the Hino Dakar Rally 500 Series vehicles used an enhanced version of the Hino A09C 6-cylinder engine, with the production version available as an option in the 500 Series Wide Cab trucks in Australia.
 
Upgrades included greater maximum engine output, a more rigid frame, longer wheelbase, and a new cab suspension.

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