德州扑克达人

TEAM SUGAWARA entered two 500 Series trucks in the Trucks Category of 德州扑克达人 Rally 2013, the 5th 德州扑克达人 Rally since its relocation to South America. Veterans Yoshimasa Sugawara and Katsumi Hamura piloted the new Car 1, which the team entered to test its new electronically controlled engine. Teruhito Sugawara and Hiroyuki Sugiura piloted Car 2 which was an updated version of the previous truck. Supporting these two trucks were highly skilled mechanics, handpicked from dealerships throughout Japan. The four mechanics were Mitsuhiro Urabe (from Kagawa), who joined the team as mechanic leader in his second stint on the team since 2009, Takahiro Kikuchi (from Hokkaido), Takeshi Koiso (from Yokohama), and Yoshiaki Sakai (from Tokushima).

Meanwhile, Car 2 consistently posted top times in its class in the SS to extend its lead over the chasing pack, and competed shoulder to shoulder with trucks with larger engine displacements. While it was unfortunate that this year's race presented few highly challenging courses where the 500 Series trucks would have been able to shine, Car 2 was still able to finish at 19th place in the Trucks Category overall and secure its 4th straight class championship with an 8 hour 13 minute lead over the runner up. Car 1 also finished without major issues at 31st overall and 4th in its class, fulfilling the team's original objective to gather data for further development and the future prospect of another class victory.