DAY 4: 9 Jan

On Jan 9, A looped course based out of San Juan de Marcona was scheduled for day 4 of the Peruvian stages which has been extremely challenging so far. Car 2 crewed by Teruhito Sugawara and Mitsugu Takahashi―which climbed to 9th place in the overall trucks category on Jan. 8―delivered solid performance again on this day's SS. The truck finished 4th overall and moved up to 5th place overall in accumulated rankings (results are provisional). Car 1 piloted by Yoshimasa Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura―which encountered problems and was rendered immobile―underwent repairs on site, and arrived safely at the bivouac in Marcona at about 3 am on Jan. 9 local time.

This day, contestants headed for the coast to the east of the bivouac on a 108 km liaison where they started the SS in grid starts. There were 15 motorbikes in each start for the motorbikes category, four cars each in starts for cars, and two trucks each in starts for trucks. After racing for about 15 kilometers along the coast, the SS took racers inland and then through intermountain areas, finishing near the bivouac for a total SS distance of 330 km. Teams were faced with a variety of conditions including rough terrain with hard surfaces that could potentially damage vehicles, huge dune crossings, and fesh-fesh on dried riverbeds. The stage also proved to be very challenging for navigators.