The 2022 Dakar Rally ended on January 6 with the SS5 stage finishing, with the Han Wei Motorsport team Han Wei/Mali finishing 23rd with a time of 4 hours, 13 minutes and 32 seconds, and teammate Tian Po/ Du Xuanyi arriving in 54th place.
The SS5 has a total distance of 560 kilometers and a special stage of 346 kilometers, and Han Wei believes that the day's race has a certain degree of difficulty and needs to be carefully handled. "The first part is Stone Mountain, which is rocky and sinister, and simply does not believe that it is a track. The second part is the desert, covered with sand dunes of varying heights, and the third part is the various intersections on the Gobi. Han Wei started in 26th place that day, ran more conservatively in the first half, and accelerated the pace of the race in the middle and back sections, and finally finished 23rd in the stage.
"In addition to carefully protecting the tyres, we also need to analyze the course, and many cars are lost on the track today. Sometimes when we see other drivers looking for a way, we also go up and join in the fun. Han Wei said after the game that the situation of getting lost caused him to lose more than ten minutes.
Affected by the penalty time, the Han Wei car team has significantly adjusted its race strategy in recent stages. Because unlike previous years, this year's HanWei Motorsport Team competed in two cars, and after the hope of pursuing the top ten was unexpectedly dashed, Han Wei believed that he needed to think about the team, rather than desperately pursuing the stage results. And now with the T1+ group with more obvious technical advantages, it is more difficult for the two-wheel drive Baggy to break into the top ten of the stage than in previous years.
Another driver of the Han Wei Motorsport team, Tian Po, finished 54th on the stage and has risen to 37th overall, topping the list of all rookie drivers. Tian Po said that the difficulty of Dakar is far beyond his imagination, fortunately, with a strong team as a guarantee, he can successfully run every day of the race. If you can keep this state to the finish line, Tian Po is undoubtedly a popular candidate for this year's Dakar Newcomer Award winner.
On 7 January, the SS6 stage took place in western Riyadh with a total distance of 562 km and a special stage of 348 km.