The big heroes of South America
DAKAR RALLY/ Russian trucks again dominated the Dakar Rally with an overall win in the category
fter 9,000km of brutal racing across Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, competitors finally crossed the finish line of the 2018 Dakar Rally in Córdoba.
Carlos Sainz, Matthias Walkner, Ignacio Casale and Eduard Nikolaev all carried big leads heading into the final 120km special stage around the home of rallying in Argentina and were not to be denied in their various categories on the final day.
For Nikolaev, it marked a hattrick of titles in the trucks category behind the wheel of the all-conquering Kamaz. On paper it looked like a dominant victory, with the Russian winning the truck category by nearly four hours; but it was far from that simple. He was involved in a neck-and-neck fight with Federico Villagra (Iveco) up until the penultimate stage when the Argentine suffered a mechanical failure and had to abandon his race.
“Many thanks to all my crew and all our team for this victory,” said Nikolaev after the event. “Many thanks to the fans for support that we felt from the very start of the race. It was not easy. At some dramatic moments we thought that it was all over for our crew. But fortunately, the vehicle and people were keeping it. For me personally it is a great happiness to win on the 40th anniversary of Dakar and on the 30th anniversary of Kamaz-master team.”
Hino scored its best finishing position in the rally in the past 11 years when Teruhito Sugawara and his navigator Mitsugu Takahashi finished sixth overall out of the 19 finishers from 44 starters. Importantly, the allwheel drive Hino 500 won the under 10l engine capacity class for a ninth consecutive year and ran virtually trouble-free.
It was the 26th year in succession, since it entered the Dakar for the first time in 1992, that Hino had at least one of its trucks qualify as a finisher in this gruelling race. Unfortunately, the second Hino entry was forced to retire after sustaining substantial mechanical damage after hitting a rock. This is only the second time a Hino has failed to finish the Dakar, the previous occasion having been in 2010 when one of the team trucks was disqualified for missing a checkpoint.
Early into the second timed special stage 76-year-old Yoshimasa Sugawara’s truck sustained serious damage and he was forced to retire. The front wheel had locked up, causing the truck to veer off course where it got stuck on a sandy slope. After the crew had dug the truck out it had to be towed to the nearest road. by one of the organiser’s assistance trucks. The left rear planetary gear reduction mechanism had also been damaged in the contact with the rock, so the crew was unable to drive the truck under its own power.
The team’s mechanics, based at a nearby bivouac, managed to make the truck driveable with front wheel drive.
However, the fact that outside assistance had been required to get the truck going again meant disqualification, which was a sad ending to Yoshimasa’s 35th consecutive Dakar Rally, having competed on motorcycles (starting in 1983), quads and cars before switching to trucks in 1992 when this epic race finished in Cape Town.
This was the 20th year that his son, Teruhito, has competed for Hino Team Sugawara in the event.
He started as a navigator in his father’s truck in 1999 and was promoted to a team driver in 2005. He has only finished out of the top 15 overall twice in 13 Dakar Rallies as a driver.
The number of manufacturers represented in the event remains impressive at 12 including DAF, Iveco, MAN, MercedesBenz, Renault and Scania.
IT WAS THE 26TH YEAR IN SUCCESSION THAT HINO HAD AT LEAST ONE OF ITS TRUCKS QUALIFY AS A FINISHER