Hiratsuka, Japan –The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., today announced its motorsports activity plan for 2023. The consumer tire business in the company’s current medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023), aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added YOKOHAMA tire brands, 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 will supply tires to a wide variety of motorsports events in Japan and around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.

This year marks the 45 year anniversary of ADVAN, and under the theme of ADVAN CHALLENGE, which is intended to maximize sales of ADVAN tires, we will aim to win in the top categories, such as SUPER GT, the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race, and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which many strong teams participate in. In addition, we will continue to take on the challenge of achieving sustainable motorsports, such as by providing racing tires made from renewable and recyclable materials in actual races and the development of such technologies. The dedicated production line at the Mishima plant, which produces motorsport tires, will use 100% renewable electricity to achieve carbon-neutral production of motorsport tires. Through these activities, we aim to increase the quality in a variety of aspects, such as our products, brands, technologies, and sales in order to maximize ADVAN.

This release briefly introduces some of the main events Yokohama Rubber will be participating in this year. Also, we will post event updates and results on YOKOHAMA’s dedicated motorsports website and on our official motorsports SNS sites.

Super GT races are contested in two classes, GT500 and GT300. GT500 is dominated by works teams from major automakers while GT300 teams tend to be more varied and individualistic. While all GT500 machines must meet certain specifications, GT300 races are open to a variety of cars made in Japan and overseas. The GT300 machines can broadly be divided into three types: (1) automakers’ production cars that meet the international FIA GT3 specifications, (2) unique GTA-GT300 machines, and (3) the so- called “Mother Chassis” group of machines. Last year, KONDO RACING’s REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R won the series championship in the GT300 class. In GT500, YOKOHAMA-supported teams won five pole positions in eight races. This year, we will supply ADVAN racing tires for two vehicles of GT500 and 16 vehicles of GT300, and aim to win GT500 and the series champion in GT300 consecutively.

GT500 class teams being supported by Yokohama Rubber in 2023

GT300 class teams being supported by Yokohama Rubber in 2023

Yokohama Rubber will be participating in the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race (ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring) and Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) by supplying ADVAN racing tires to the three BMW M4 GT3 cars being entered by BMW’s Customer Racing team Walkenhorst Motorsport, continuing the partnership agreement that began in 2021. This year, we will aim to win the overall championship in the 24-hour race with two SP9 Pro class cars.

We will continue to supply the ADVAN racing tires for the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama, the RAAT Thailand Endurance International Championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing Motorsport, Honda One Make Race, and the Inter Proto Series in Japan.

YOKOHAMA tires have been the control tires for the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship since 2016. This year, we will begin supplying ADVAN racing tires, made from 33% sustainable materials, as control tires. Racing tires using sustainable materials are being supplied in support of SUPER FORMULA NEXT 50 project promoted by Japan Racing Promotion Inc., which runs the SUPER FORMULA series. This project is being promoted with the cooperation of various companies that share the common goal of creating a sustainable motorsports industry by responding to changes in the environment surrounding the automobile and motorsports industries, including the promotion of SDGs and carbon neutrality. From the perspective of promoting the development of circular economy tires, Yokohama Rubber aims to develop racing tires that include sustainable materials without compromising driving performance. Yokohama Rubber tested its tires as part of the trial runs for next-generation formula cars that were held before and after each SUPER FORMULA race during the 2022 season. The company will continue its efforts to develop tires with higher sustainable material content in 2023 and coming years.

Yokohama Rubber will equip teams participating in several classes with high-performance tires that can propel them safely to a championship, including JN1 in the highest class, which are subject to new regulations starting from this year. We will be supplying ADVAN A051T, ADVAN A08B and ADVAN A052 for use on tarmac and ADVAN A053 for use on gravel.

We also will be supplying ADVAN rallycross tires to teams participating in the Nitro Rallycross (NRX), which was launched in 2021 in North America and is expanding into the Middle East this year. Yokohama Rubber will provide its ADVAN rallycross tires as control tires for the vehicles in EV category in addition to internal combustion engine vehicles.

We will supply ADVAN rally tires to the Subaru Rally Team USA, which participates in the ARA (American Rally Association) Rally in the United States, and the Toyota Team Thailand, which participates in the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship 2023 Round 2 “South India Rally”.

Gymkhana are time-based competitions in which cars run one-by-one over a paved course with obstacles. In 2023, we will be supplying our ADVAN NEOVA AD09, and ADVAN A050 high-performance tires to teams aiming to capture series championships in several Gymkhana classes.

Dirt trial competitions are time-based competitions in which cars run one-by-one over an unpaved course. Yokohama Rubber is supporting teams vying for the series championship in several classes with a lineup of tires that can deliver superior performance on various surfaces, starting with ADVAN A053 tires and then ADVAN A031 tires for softer surfaces and ADVAN A036 tires for ultra-hard surfaces.

We will supply tires for the Toyota GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge 2023, N-ONE OWNER’S CUP, which is a one-design race by HONDA N-ONE, and races held at circuits in various locations.

We will supply GEOLANDAR M/T G003 to the teams participating in the Asia Cross Country Rally 2023, the largest cross country rally in Asia. Last year, the vehicles equipped with these tires won the overall championship and also demonstrated excellent performance by taking the third, fourth and fifth places of five overall prizes.

We will be supplying our GEOLANDAR brand tires for SUVs and pickup trucks to teams competing in off-road races, such as King of the Hammers and SCORE series in North America. In King of the Hammers held in North America in February this year, the GEOLANDAR-equipped vehicle won first place in the 4900 Can-Am UTV race in addition to winning its class. Last year, the GEOLANDAR-equipped vehicle participated in a number of races, winning the Pro UTV Open class at the 35th SCORE SAN FELIPE 250 in Mexico and winning UTV N/A Pro class of 2022 Method Race Wheels “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno, which is one of the Best In The Desert 2022 series races, the largest off-road races in North America.

This year, Yokohama Rubber will again participate in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado, USA, where an ADVAN racing tire-equipped vehicle won the overall championship last year. This year, we will be providing EV vehicles participating in the exhibition class with ADVAN tires made from biomass-derived butadiene rubber again, while supplying our tires to many teams participating in other classes, in order to win consecutive championships. In addition, we will continue our role as provider of the control tire for the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama, a hill climb that pits drivers of Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport vehicles against each other.

【Yokohama Rubber Motorsports Website (English)】
https://www.y-yokohama.com/cp/global/motorsports/

【Official SNS websites】
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