Tokyo—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is proud to announce another achievement for its motorsports activities in 2020—a victory by a vehicle running on YOKOHAMA’s GEOLANDAR M/T G003 mud-terrain tires for SUVs and pickup trucks at the BlueWater Desert Challenge, the final event of North America’s ultimate off-road racing series, Best In The Desert. The BlueWater Desert Challenge races were held during October 22-25 in Parker, Arizona in the United States.

The winning vehicle was a 2WD Jimco trick truck (trophy truck) driven by Justin Lofton. The vehicle was outfitted with GEOLANDAR M/T G003 tires specially strengthened for this race on demanding desert terrain. After finishing first with a three-minute lead on the first day of racing on October 24, Justin and his Jimco trick truck captured the overall win by finishing third on the second and final day on October 25. In a post-event interview, Justin said “It was a great weekend. Everyone at Lofton Racing and Team Yokohama have been putting in the work it takes to win and are glad we accomplished it before the end of the year. And even more excited to get Yokohama Tire their first TT overall win.”

The GEOLANDAR M/T G003 delivers superior performance on the full range of off-road surfaces over an exceptionally long lifespan. In addition, the tire features a sturdy and aggressive design that enhances the off-road driving sensation. YOKOHAMA’s GEOLANDAR tires have demonstrated their superior off-road performance in many races in recent years, including a championship at the APL SMOKIN’ WHEELS 2018 race held in Guam and a class championship in the 2019 Tatts Finke Desert Race, Australia’s ultimate off-road racing event.

The BlueWater Desert Challenge, run along the Colorado River, is a desert race with the most challenging course in the Best In The Desert series. In addition to trick trucks, the race has several different classes of participating vehicles, including open-wheeled cars and utility task vehicles (UTVs). Each class competes in two races in two days over the 23-mile (about 37km) loop course, with each day’s races covering 3-4 laps, depending on the class, for a total of race length of 6-8 laps. Each class’ winner is the team with the lowest total time over the two days.

The technology strategy outlined in the company’s current medium-term management plan, the Grand Design 2020 (GD2020), positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to Yokohama Rubber’s effort to be at the vanguard of the development of new tire technologies. Yokohama Rubber is therefore participating in a wide variety of events in Japan and around the globe, from formula and touring car races to rally, off-road, and kart races. Yokohama Rubber looks forward to its participation in off-road races enhancing the technological prowess and brand power of its GEOLANDAR tires and raising the brand’s market presence.