Hino, one of Japan’s leading truck manufacturers, will again be the only entry from a truck maker based in Asia to contest the Dakar Rally.

Hino, one of Japan’s leading truck manufacturers, will again be the only entry from a truck maker based in Asia to contest the Dakar Rally. Hino, which will be competing this famous endurance rally-raid for the 35^th consecutive time. On each occasion Hino has been an official finisher, which is an unprecedented record for reliability.

This year it will be part of a strong field of 46 trucks entered by teams from Eastern and Western Europe.

There are eight different makes that will be competing against a singleton Hino 600 Series racing truck in the 2026 event, which takes place in Saudi Arabia from January 3-17. Iveco, with 20 entries, is the most popular truck. It is followed by MAN with 13 entries. Other makes in the field are Tatra, DAF (3 each), Renault, Scania (2 each), Mercedes-Benz and Volvo (1 each).

The Russian Kamaz trucks, which were so dominant in the Dakar Rally for many years, scoring 19 wins, have not contested the event since 2023 when the manufacturer refused to sign a document condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The 2026 Dakar Rally will start and finish in the port city of Yanbu with a route that takes an 8 000 km loop through Saudi Arabia which includes 5 000 km of timed racing sections. There will be a one day rest period in Riyad, the country’s capital, on 10 January.

Teruhito Sugawara, the Team Principal of Team Hino Sugawara, will again drive the Hino in the Dakar. He has a proud record of 20 successive finishes. His navigator will be Somemiya Hirokazu, while Mochizuki Yuji, a technician, is the third person in the crew.

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