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Issue #6:January 8, 2022
On January 6, a 394.81 km SS (competition stage) loop course starting in Riyadh was held, where the Toyota Land Cruiser 200 cars reached the finish with the following rankings. Ronald Basso and Jean-Michel Polato in car #245 came in 49th place overall in the car category and 1st place in the production car category. Akira Miura and Laurent Lichtleuchter in car #242 reached the finish in 52nd place overall and 2nd place in the production car category. As of January 6th, car #242 ranks 40th in the cumulative car category ranking and 1st in the production car category, while car #245 ranks 46th in the overall cumulative ranking and 2nd in the category. TLC maintains its hold on the one-two formation in the production car category.
The two TLC cars that arrived at the capital Riyadh after yesterday’s stage take on two consecutive days of loop stages from the capital on Thursday January 6 and Friday January 7. One of the loop courses from Riyadh is in the north, with the other in the east. Bikes and quads will run on one of the courses while cars and trucks run the other, and on the following day they will swap. On Thursday 6 January the cars and trucks ran the course in the north. Recent rainfall had affected some of the terrain on this SS, which really firmed up the sand, while in other areas muddy sludge was formed, increasing the difficulty of the stage. At the start of the SS, they started off on a high-speed section on a plateau, but the sand dunes made their appearance soon after. After slowing down to pass through the rocks, more sand dunes appeared. The course was full of a variety of terrains.
Car #245 (Basso/Polato) started off the stage with high tire pressure for the rocks and ended up getting stuck in some sand dunes that they didn’t have any information about. They needed a few minutes to get out, but after that they managed to keep a steady pace and had a trouble-free run to the finish. As for car #242 (Miura/Lichtleuchter), while changing a tire they punctured in the first half, their jack dug into the soft ground below. As a result, the car leaned to one side causing a deformity in the body, which in turn made it made it difficult to close the rear right door which was left open. As a quick fix, they tied the door down with a belt and kept driving, but every time they had to stop to tighten it up, they lost some time. They had a smooth run, and without changing tire pressure they crossed the dunes without getting stuck. They returned to the bivouac in Riyadh only a few minutes behind car #245.
Miura (driver): Today we left the tire pressure at 1.7kgf/cm2 and were able to clear the dunes without getting stuck. We ran into a bit of trouble yesterday and today, so from tomorrow we look forward to starting afresh.
Basso (driver): This stage had a huge variety of terrain and incredible views. I was disappointed about getting stuck at the start of the stage, but after that we were able to run without any trouble. I want to stay focused for tomorrow and beyond.