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Dakar Rally 2012 kicked off. Jun’s car No.339, started at 8:56 AM, January 1(Local time) and headed to Santa Rosa. Jun said, “The course was difficult and got the involuntary result for today as you see”.

Getting over the sand dunes that is bigger than Tottori Sand Dunes of Japan was a tough job.  Jun continued running at a good pace and tried to raise his rank while passing other cars that were stuck in the sand. Unfortunately Jun’s tire came off from the wheel when he attempted to pass the Chinese team. Nevertheless, it was his crew that blew up the tire’s air pressure high from preventing the trouble that happened. It was the costly error. Today’s Special Stage was short but this time lost was the reason for the rank down.

The main factor of trouble was the heavy sand along the sea side. There were cars stuck in the sand and some teams had to retire when their car burned down. The first day of the Rally was  rough. The air temperature was over 40 degree and the extreme weather condition, that changed water to hot water, was the strain for Jun’s body in the long liaison.

However Jun has already rebooted his mind after the race and will try to bump up his rank at full throttle from tomorrow.

Dakar Rally 2012 Stage 1 Result:

Liaison: 763km SS: 57km

T2 Autos Result 3rd

Overall standings: 67th
http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/fr/pilote/339.html

Top 10:

Pos. N° Name Mark Time variation Penalty
1  340 FOJ (ESP) CERVANTES () TOYOTA 00:43:55 ?
2  342 TERADA (JPN) TANAKA (JPN) TOYOTA 00:48:26 00:04:31 –
3  339 MITSUHASHI (JPN) GUEHENNEC (FRA)TOYOTA 00:49:06 00:05:11 ?
4  341 WAUTERS (BEL) FERYN (BEL) TOYOTA 00:51:35 00:07:40 –
5  346 ALHERAIZ (UAE) ALKENDI (UAE) TOYOTA 00:53:53 00:09:58 –
6  424 GIRARD (FRA) SIMONIN (FRA) TOYOTA 00:56:20 00:12:25 –
7  468 BULACIA (BOL) MONTANO PANAS (ESP) TOYOTA 00:56:23 00:12:28 –
8  416 ZUCCHI (ITA) BUSSENI (ITA) MITSUBISHI 01:01:24 00:17:29 –
9  398 BASSO (FRA) MENARD (FRA) TOYOTA 01:02:16 00:18:21 –
10 412 TOTANI (ITA) TOTANI (ITA) MITSUBISHI 01:07:10 00:23:15 –
http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2012/fr/etape-1/classements/general-t2-autos.html#ancre

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7:30 PM, December 31(Local time): Jun appeared on the podium of Dakar Rally pre-ceremony. This event introduces every vehicles that entered in to the Rally. It began at 3:00 PM and it has been over 5 hours already but it is not over yet. The parade course is a round trip that is 10 km long with many audiences along both sides of the road. From the center of the downtown to the podium, all  the Rally cars ran in the middle of the road while receiving cheers from the fans. The scene was a sight to be seen.
Jun said that he felt the passion for the motor sport from the local fans directly and was moved by it. This event has been broadcasted live by local TV station. Other teams showed the national flags and enjoyed the event as well. Jun had some coverage by the media, completed his schedule and is now backed to the hotel. He is attending the last meeting before the start with his crew now. Mar Del Prada is in a new year’s eve fever. Although people are excited for a new year, Jun and the crew must be in a serious mood for the start.
Tomorrow at 8:50 AM, January 1(Local time), the 16 days battle finally begins.
Support Jun’s challenge for 2012.

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