Hino Team Sugawara has made an early announcement confirming its entry in the 2026 Dakar Rally, which will be held in Saudia Arabia for the seventh time. The event will take place from January 3-17.
Hino has a proud history for reliability in the Dakara Rally, having contested the past 34 Dakar Rallies, first in Africa, then in South America and now in Saudi Arabia. It has been an official finisher on each occasion.
Teruhito Sugawara, who drives the racing truck and is also the Team Director, announced that there will be only one truck entered in the 2026 Dakar, and it will be based on the bonneted Hino 600 which finished 13th in 2025. The Hino 600 is only sold in the United States and is similar to the forward control Hino 500 Series in terms of its power train and suspension.
“We are incorporating a host of improvements for 2026 based on our experience in 2025 as we aim for a high overall placing,” explained Sugawara, who has finished the past 20 rallies, first as a navigator and later as a driver. “Improvements are all aimed at improving the truck’s off-road driving performance.”
Three mechanics from Hino dealers in Japan have been selected to join the team to prepare the truck for the event and then to take part in servicing the truck on the event itself.
The 2026 Dakar Rally, known as the Saudi Odyssey, will have a route of about 8 000 km with 5 000 km being timed racing stages. The event will start and finish at Yanbu, a port on the Red Sea, and the rest day will be in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
There will be separate routes for motorcycles and cars in 2026 and two marathon stages where no outside assistance is permitted with servicing the competing motorcycles, cars and trucks.
