Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced today that it will supply its GEOLANDAR M/T G003 mud-terrain tires for SUVs and pickup trucks to support Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART as it seeks to win this year’s Asia Cross Country Rally (hereafter AXCR), Asia’s largest cross country rally, which is scheduled to be held during August 13–19. Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART will be seeking its second straight overall AXCR championship, after capturing the title last year on GEOLANDAR M/T G003 tires.

Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART is a private team operated by TANT SPORTS (Thailand), with technical support from Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Last year was Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART’s first AXCR, and the team entered three GEOLANDAR-equipped Tritons, Mitsubishi Motors’ global strategic model one-ton pickup truck. In addition to the overall championship, a RALLIART Triton also took fifth place. This year the team will enter three new Triton Group T1s (prototype cross-country vehicles) driven by last year’s champion Chayapon Yotha, 5th place finisher Rifat Sungkar and new driver Katsuhiko Taguchi. Yokohama Rubber will be supporting a number of other teams from various countries at this year’s AXCR, in addition to Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART.

YOKOHAMA’s GEOLANDAR M/T G003 tires deliver 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 brand tires, including the M/T G003, are widely used in motorsports and have performed brilliantly in many of the most demanding off-road races in Asia, North America, and other regions.

First held in 1996, AXCR is an FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) officially sanctioned race, similar to the Dakar Rally. In recent years, the AXCR has been run over a different course each year, with the starting line in Thailand and then passing through many Southeast Asian countries as it winds through a diverse range of terrains, from mountains and jungles to beaches and plantations, and even race circuits. This year’s rally will start in Thailand and finish some 2,000kms away in Laos.

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. As part of its 2023 “Mud Match” themed sales campaign, the consumer tire business is introducing new tires in its GEOLANDAR brand and accelerating the expansion of the size lineups. 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.