The world’s most experienced truck rally team has been refining its vehicles through testing and competition this year with the aim of claiming its sixth successive class victory at the 2015 Dakar Rally.
2015 also marks 25 years since Hino became the first Japanese manufacturer to enter the rally in 1991.
Hino Team Sugawara has indicated that it intends to compete beyond the under 10-litre class, in which it claimed first and second places at Dakar in 2014.
The team’s trucks, both loosely based on the medium duty Hino 500 Series, have completed a shake-down at Rally Mongolia in preparation for Dakar 2015.
The team has also logged numerous hours and kilometres in both trucks at Hino’s proving ground at Gozenyama in Japan.
The team line-up for 2015 consists of father and son drivers Yoshimasa and Teruhito Sugawara, navigators Yoko Wakabayashi and Hiroyuki Sugiura, a carefully selected team of Hino dealer mechanics and support personnel.
Truck No. 2’s 8.9-litre engine – which used Hino’s direct injection system for the first time to take second position in the under 10-litre class in 2014 – will be carried over. The same engine and injection system will be added to a newly built truck No. 1.
For Dakar 2015 Hino Team Sugawara has developed a completely new suspension system to best harness the added power that the 8.9-litre engine brings.
The new suspension uses alternative leaf springs with softer settings and adds a torque rod to better locate the axles. Both drivers have praised its ability to deliver power to the ground.
Teruhito Sugawara echoed the team’s confidence when talking about their expectations for 2015.
"In our next race, it goes without saying that we will be aiming for our sixth straight championship in the Under 10-litre Class,” Teruhito said.
“But in addition, we will also be aiming to finish with high rankings in the overall Trucks category to let the world know Hino Japan is a force to be reckoned with."
The 2015 Dakar Rally will begin on January 4 at the Tecnopolis exhibition centre in north-east Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Competitors who make it through all stages of the rally (which covers 9,000 kilometres across Argentina, Chile and Bolivia) will finish back in Buenos Aires on January 17.