Day 11: 16 Jan

On Jan 16: Contestants raced a 313 km loop course in one of the region's deserts, starting off and ending in Pisco. While Thursday, Jan 17, the final day, will feature a 112 km SS (Special Stage), today was essentially the last day of serious competition. As such, the day turned out to be the final trial for HINO TEAM SUGAWARA's HINO500 Series truck, which the team is aiming to bring to a finish near the top position in the trucks category.

Most of day's terrain continued on with the sand and fesh-fesh (sedimentation of extremely soft and powdery soil) theme which is notoriously difficult to drive on. In terms of navigation, the way point (a GPS point that racers are required to pass) configurations were quite tricky, forcing the HINO500 Series truck Car 2 to stay extra alert as they drove at a quick pace. While the crew lost some time on a number of occasions hunting for way points that were difficult to find, the truck finished at 10th place overall, for a cumulative overall ranking at 9th place.
Meanwhile, the HINO500 Series truck Car 1 racing the Semi-Marathon were not able to reach the Stage 7 finish line even after sundown, and were officially declared retired from the Semi-Marathon on Tuesday, Jan 15. Car 1 will take on the role of assistance vehicle for the team's remaining journey to Lima.