Tokyo—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is pleased to announce that a vehicle equipped with its GEOLANDAR SD offroad tires sold in overseas markets finished first in the UTV N/A Pro class at the 2022 Method Race Wheels “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno. The race, held in the U.S. state of Nevada during August 10-13, was the latest round of the 2022 Best In The Desert series.

After finishing the long, demanding desert terrain course without a puncture, team’s driver Max Eddy praised his vehicle’s GEOLANDAR SD tires, saying "My Yokohama GEOLANDAR SD tires worked flawlessly, providing confidence, predictability and its drive ability is just what I needed to get me through the brutal Nevada desert in first place." Max Eddy also drove his GEOLANDAR SD–equipped UTV to a class victory in the previous Best In The Desert 2022 event in April.

Drivers have praised the GEOLANDAR SD for its superb durability and performance in rugged offroad races. A vehicle equipped with the tires also finished first in the Pro UTV Open class at this year’s SCORE SAN FELIPE 250, held from March 30 to April 3 in Mexico.

The 2022 Method Race Wheels “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno is a 495 mile (about 800km) offroad race across a challenging desert landscape that includes muddy, sandy and rocky areas from Las Vegas in southern Nevada to Reno in northwest Nevada. Vehicles fitted with GEOLANDAR tires have achieved excellent results in past Best In The Desert events, including the overall championship in the October 2020 race and a class championship in the September 2021 race.

Under Yokohama Rubber’s three-year (2021–2023) medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023), the consumer tire business aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added YOKOHAMA tires, namely the global flagship ADVAN brand, the GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks, and various winter tires. YX2023 also positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to the company’s effort to develop new tire technologies that will further strengthen the ADVAN and GEOLANDAR brands. Yokohama Rubber therefore is again participating in a wide variety of motorsports events in Japan and around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.