This year's race, which will be the 6th since Dakar Rally organizers relocated the race to South America, will be a milestone race for HINO TEAM SUGAWARA in that this will be the last and culminating year in its 3-year development program that it launched in 2011 to develop a new racing truck, as well as the first year in the development of a truck powered by the new A09C engine. Car 2, the new racing truck that will be piloted by the Teruhito Sugawara/Hiroyuki Sugiura crew, is an upgraded version of the truck that entered the 2013 race as Car 1 and has received further power upgrades to its common rail fuel-injected J08C engine.

Car 1, piloted by the Yoshimasa Sugawara/Katsumi Hamura crew is equipped with a new engine producing an output of 600 hp. As such, expectations are great for both trucks in terms of the team continuing its winning streak in the Under 10-litre class, and finishing at high rankings in the Trucks category overall.

Since they took possession of their trucks that arrived from Japan on December 19, the team has been carrying out final preparations at an adjunct facility of Argentina Toyota in Rosario. On January 2, the team successfully completed vehicle inspections and documentation procedures for team personnel at the organizer's vehicle inspection center set up in central Rosario. To wrap up all preparations for the past year leading up to the 2014 race, the trucks were moved to the Parc-Fermes (vehicle storage area) that was set up adjacent to the Monumento Nacional a la Bandera, the National Flag Memorial where the start ceremony was scheduled to be held on the 4th.

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