Hino to brave the Dakar yet again
Hino Motors has been a regular competitor in the Dakar Rally since 1991.
It has just announced that it will compete in the 2022 event racing a diesel-electric hybrid truck. The engine output is given as 794kW. This is a lot more than the 550kW produced by the Hino 500 series with which the company competed in 2020.
Hino’s Team Sugawara’s leader and driver will be the experienced Teruhito Sugawara.
“Up until now our hybrid truck has been built and developed by a well-qualified and experienced team of engineers and technicians under a cloak of secrecy, and will only debut at the 2022 Dakar Rally,” explained Sugawara, who has competed in the past 22 Dakar Rallies. He has only finished up in the top 15 overall twice in the 17 years he has been a driver, after previously navigating a Hino driven by his father.
In 1997, Hino was the outright winner of the truck category. Three Hino 500 series took first, second and third places overall in this event, a feat that was only equalled by Kamaz in 2011 and repeated by the same Russian truck in 2013.
The 2022 Dakar Rally will mark the 44th edition of this gruelling cross-country endurance event, and it will be the third time it will take place in Saudi Arabia. The organisers say that 80% of the route will be different from previous events in this country. The Dakar will start in Ha’il on January 2 and finish in Jeddah on January 14, with a rest day in Riyadh on January 8.
Source: MotorPress
