When you’re doing a rally through the jungles of Thailand, you don’t have much room for error. Consequently, more than a handful of racers took a beating even on the very first day of the Asia Cross Country Rally.

The 364.93-kilometer (199.13 km in SS) Stage 1 ran through forests filled with mud and rubber trees. Thawee Naennar learned the hard way—or an alternative?—how to extract latex from them when he drifted slightly wide while navigating a lefthand turn, causing his Isuzu D-Max to clip one such tree on the driver’s side.

The impact rolled the D-Max onto the passenger’s side before landing back on its wheels, though the right rear quarter panel was all but shredded and knocked him out of the stage. Despite not finishing the day, his team was able to repair it overnight and get him back in the race for Sunday.

While a Suzuki Jimny Sierra won the T1G class courtesy of Satoshi Takeno, the line especially struggled on Saturday. Tadamune Nakai’s Jimny rolled and landed in a creek on its left side, while Roslyn Shen ended up on her roof. It’s an especially unlucky break for the latter, who also rolled in Stage 4 last year.

Ikuo Hanawa finished ninth after in a very messy day in the cockpit, literally. The air conditioning malfunctioned after the intercooler hose came off, and remained unusable despite reconnecting it. Hanawa opted to roll down the windows to stay cool, but the floor of his Fortuner sprung a leak that pushed sewage into the cockpit “with the force of a Kärcher car wash” whenever he went through mud and water crossings.

“The muddy water clearly tasted and smelled like animal feces,” Hanawa remarked. “The inside of my car smells like my body.”

Last year’s winner Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand hit the ground running as Natthaphon Angritthanon set the fastest time, beating Mitsubishi rival Chayapon Yotha by six minutes. Defending champion Mana Pornsiricherd was fourth and 12 minutes back of his TGR teammate.

Even Yotha wasn’t immune to the rubber trees, suffering bumper damage after bumping into one. He also lost some time due to poor visibility from the mud kicking up. Still, he stressed “the rally has only just begun, so I’ll stay focused and do my best every day starting tomorrow.”

On the other hand, his Mitsubishi Ralliart colleague Kazuto Koide crashed into another car in front of him. He plans to rejoin the race on Sunday afer repairing the engine.

“The 190-km SS was a sudden start, and the course was tougher than we expected with many cars suffering damage, large potholes, and some navigational challenges,” commented Team Mitsubishi Ralliart general manager Hiroshi Masuoka. “I think Chayapon drove extremely well. I hope he’ll continue to stay calm and lead the team.”

Yoshio Ikemachi, an AXCR and Dakar Rally veteran, was the top rider for Moto.

Stage 1 winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1D	1	113	Natthaphon Angritthanon	Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand	3:16:39
T1G	21	115	Satoshi Takeno	Garage Monchi & Yanagawa Iron Works JapInd	4:34:57
T1E	32	127	Chen Ho-Huang	i Taiwan Rally Team	10:00:00
T2A-D	10	120	Michael Freeman	Feeliq Innovation Motorsport	3:41:13
T2D	28	123	Yuichi Iijima	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	5:38:59

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
M1	3	1	Norihisa Matsumoto	Indonesia Cross Country Rally Team	4:13:40
M2	1	16	Yoshio Ikemachi	Team Musashi International	3:47:09
M3	7	45	Khomsan Udomteekasiri	Ark Bar Samui	5:09:22
Sidecar	DNF	N/A	No Finishers	N/A	13:30:00

Featured image credit: Obachan Reimi