Tokyo-The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., has announced that it will support five cars from three teams at the 69th 24 Hours of Le Mans race, to be held for two days from June 16 on the Sarthe Circuit in Le Mans, France.

At this year's event, Yokohama will supply tires to Team Taisan Advan (Porsche 911T3RS), Freisinger Motorsport (Porsche 911T3RS) and Seikel Motorsport (Porsche 911T3RS), which will field a total of five cars in the grand touring car (GT) class.

Yokohama developed tires for the Le Mans competition based on its tires for the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, and featuring reinforced wear-resistance. The cars adopting these tires posted top times in their class in preliminary practice sessions in May, and favourable results were achieved for both wear-resistance and driving stability. Yokohama's support comes in the form of about 900 tires: the YOKOHAMA A005 for dry road conditions and the YOKOHAMA A006 for wet road conditions. The tire size for both YOKOHAMA A005 and YOKOHAMA A006 tires is 250/650R18 for the front and 280/680R18 for the rear.

At last year's Le Mans, Team Taisan Advan (Porsche 911GT3RS) captured the GT class championship in its first appearance at Le Mans. Thus, the team is the focus of widespread attention as the 2001 competition approaches.

Yokohama Tire-Mounted Car List for Le Mans