MEDIA INFORMATION
Hydrogen Small mobility & Engine technology (HySE)
47th Dakar Rally
January 3rd-17th, 2025
HYDROGEN-POWERED HYSE-X2 REACHES REMOTE SHUBAYTAH AND CLOSES IN ON DAKAR RALLY FINISH
SHUBAYTAH (SAUDI ARABIA) – Thursday, January 16: The revolutionary hydrogen-powered HySE-X2 moved to within two days of a memorable finish to the Dakar Rally after reaching the remote desert settlement of Shubaytah, deep in Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter, on Wednesday evening.
Japanese driver Yoshio Ikemachi and his Portuguese navigator Paulo Marques had attacked the ninth 92.45km stage between Riyadh and Haradh in the Ahsa Governorate and scored the maximum 20 points for the stage. They earned 10 for completing the full stage distance and a further 10 for finishing the section in sport mode in a time of 1hr 23min 16sec.
Wednesday’s 10th special ran for 95km and the day for the Mission 1000 competitors also included a long liaison to the night halt in remote Shubaytah, the bivouac location for the remaining two days of the 47th Dakar Rally. For the second successive day, the HySE-X2 crew picked up 10 points for completing the stage distance and an additional 10 for running in sport mode.
Quotes after Stage 10 on Wednesday, January 15th
Yoshio Ikemachi, Driver:
“This was a long 95km stage and it was a sandy one, so I had to be careful about fuel consumption. The first half was as hard as a paved road, but I tried to keep my fuel consumption down as much as possible. From there, I entered the sand and, as expected, it was very soft and slightly uphill. I drove quite conservatively but my fuel consumption was worse than expected. I thought it was a nice run halfway through, but I didn’t give up and drove slowly on the nice parts of the track. By the time I reached the finish line, my fuel consumption was only 12%. I’ll think about what to do tomorrow to complete the full course. This is my goal.”
Paulo Marques, Co-driver:
“We did a very difficult track. There was some deep sand. We had to control the consumption. Nothing really that interesting for Yoshio or myself. The track was always one direction, turn right, one direction and turn again, one direction, nothing interesting. We did it very well. Yoshio was always asking how many kilometres we had, so he could control the consumption. In some parts, in the chotts, it was very deep and we needed more power. But we know that’s when we consume more (hydrogen). In the end, we were happy to arrive at the end. No problems with the car.”
Daichi Kai, Team Leader of HySE Dakar Project:
“This was a difficult day and completely different from yesterday. We made a strategy, but the fuel consumption on the soft sand was higher than expected, so we had to save a lot of fuel at the end. The driver and co-driver were very patient and performed well. We came back safely, so I’m relieved now. We’ve managed to complete the race so far, so we’d like to do our best to finish the remaining two days.”
Quotes after Stage 9 on Tuesday, January 14th
Yoshio Ikemachi, Driver:
“Finally, we encountered serious sand dunes and, for the HySE, it felt like revenge for last year. I personally wasn’t too concerned about the dunes. I wanted to see how fast I could do in third gear. So, I adjusted my speed to match the terrain, while driving through the 25km section of sand dunes. The stage was over 90km, so I was mindful of fuel consumption as well. I thought there might be more opportunities to push harder in the second half, but I was concerned about the fuel consumption, so I focused on eco-friendly driving overall. I still managed to gain some sports boost, so I believe I drove quite well. With only a little left to go, I want to keep my focus and finish in the coming days.”
Paulo Marques, Co-driver:
“It was the first time that we got into the real sand and the dunes. We didn’t know until this point how the car would perform. It went very well and we are very happy. We did 35km in real dunes and some bumpy sections and broken dunes. Yoshio drove very well and we had good navigation. We were very satisfied with the result. We could not do maximum attack all the time because of the consumption of hydrogen. After around 40km, we realised we had consumed quite a lot, so we eased off the gas a little and finished the stage with the hydrogen at a good level. We are very proud of the team and hope that everything will be good for the next days.”
Daichi Kai, Team Leader of HySE Dakar Project:
“Stage nine turned out to be even better than the previous day. We managed to overcome the dunes that we struggled with last year and the driver and the co-driver managed the fuel and time perfectly. As a result, we were able to earn the sport mode bonus. We also got some valuable data the data which we will analyse and adjust for the next stage.”
Entered in the event’s Mission 1000 category for machines of the future, the HySE-X2 (Hydrogen Small mobility & Engine technology) is a revised SSV, which has been developed for competition as a prototype for the next-generation of carbon-neutral powertrain technologies.
The HySE project was established in May 2023. Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Motors Ltd., Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation and Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. started the Dakar project around September 2023 and joined the Dakar Mission 1000 category with the HySE-X1. The chassis was built by Overdrive Racing, the Belgian car preparations company.
Today (Thursday), marks the penultimate day of the event and Mission 1000 teams will compete over a timed course of 75km through the desert around Shubaytah.
They will then tackle a short final special of 11km on Friday before the finish celebrations in the remote desert outpost in the evening.
Ends