Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., today announced its motorsports activity plan for 2024. The Company’s consumer tire strategy 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. Yokohama Rubber positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to its efforts to further strengthen the ADVAN and GEOLANDAR brands. The Company therefore is again participating in a wide variety of motorsports events around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.

Continuing the ADVAN CHALLENGE launched in 2023 to maximize sales of ADVAN tires, Yokohama Rubber will again supply its ADVAN tires to many teams participating in the world’s top-category motorsports events, such as Japan’s SUPER GT, the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race, and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which feature lineups filled with the world’s strongest racing teams. Yokohama Rubber aims to stand out amid this strong competition by winning even more races than in 2023. Yokohama Rubber’s motorsports activities in 2024 also will continue its efforts to realize sustainable motorsports by developing tires with a high sustainable materials content ratio and providing motorsports tires made on a dedicated production line at its Mishima Plant, which is powered by 100% renewable energy. Yokohama Rubber’s GEOLANDAR tires will be supplied to teams participating in leading off-road races in North America and Asia, including the Baja 1000, King of the Hammers, the Mint 400, and the Asia Cross Country Rally. Yokohama Rubber expects its GEOLANDAR tires contribution to winning these challenging off-road races will raise recognition and enhance the reputation of the GEOLANDAR brand around the world.

Following is a list of the main events Yokohama Rubber will be participating in this year. 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. GT300 machines can broadly be divided into three types: (1) automakers’ production cars that meet the international FIA GT3 specifications, (2) Japan’s unique GTA-GT300 machines, and (3) the so-called “Mother Chassis" group of machines. In 2023, a YOKOHAMA-supported team was victorious in the GT500 class SUPER GT third round race, and YOKOHAMA-supported teams dominated the GT300 class, finishing first in four of the series’ eight races. This year, we look forward to more victories, with ADVAN racing tires being supplied to two cars in the GT500 class and 15 cars in the GT300 class.

Yokohama Rubber will be participating in this year’s Nürburgring 24-Hour Race (ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring) and aiming for victory by supplying ADVAN racing tires to a prominent team competing in the top-level SP9 class. We also will supply tires to leading teams competing in the SP9 class in the Nürburgring’s two endurance series, Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie（NLS）and the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NES). In last year’s NLS, an ADVAN equipped car captured the NLS Speed Trophy and the overall championship in the series’ ultimate SP9 Pro class.

Starting this year, Yokohama Rubber will be supplying ADVAN racing tires as the control tire for the Porsche Carrera Cup North America, the top tier Porsche one-make racing series in North America and part of the global Porsche Carrera Cup series. Yokohama Rubber will supply ADVAN A005 tires for dry conditions and ADVAN A006 tires for wet conditions. Porsche Carrera Cup North America races feature professional and amateur drivers competing in Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 992) race cars with specs based on Porsche’s 911 Carrera (Type 992). Yokohama Rubber will also supply control tires for the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama and Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama. These two series are step-up category races for semi-pro drivers aiming to compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply its ADVAN racing tires to a number of other GT and touring car races held around the world, including the Toyota Gazoo Racing Motorsport races and Honda One Make Races in Thailand and the Inter Proto Series in Japan.

YOKOHAMA tires have been the control tires for the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship series since 2016. Last year, Yokohama Rubber began supplying ADVAN A005 racing tires for use in dry conditions that have a 33% sustainable material content ratio as the series’ control tire. This season, we are increasing the use of sustainable materials by supplying a new version of our ADVAN A006 tire for wet conditions that has a higher sustainable material content ratio. This activity is part of an effort to create a sustainable motorsports industry, and Yokohama Rubber is continuing to advance its development of racing tires that sustainable materials without compromising driving performance as part of a broader perspective to develop tires suitable for a circular economy.

Yokohama Rubber will again participate in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States. In 2023, a car equipped with ADVAN racing tires won the overall championship for the second straight year, while other ADVAN equipped cars finished first in five classes. We will again supply ADVAN racing tires to drivers competing in many classes and hope to achieve a third consecutive overall championship. In addition, we will again provide the control tire for the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama, a hill climb competition for Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport vehicles.

Last year, Yokohama Rubber provided teams competing in the Japanese Rally Championship with ADVAN A051T, ADVAN A08B and ADVAN A052 tires for use on tarmac and the ADVAN A053 for use on gravel. These high-performance tires contributed to overall championships in three of six classes. We again will be aiming for championships in multiple classes, including the series highest JN1 class.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply the control tire for Nitrocross, a highly popular rallycross racing series in North America that began in 2021. The control tire for EV category cars as well as internal combustion engine cars will be the ADVAN A054 rallycross tire, which was developed specifically for rallycross.

Last year, cars equipped with YOKOHAMA’s ADVAN NEOVA AD09 and ADVAN A050 high-performance tires captured the series championship in two classes. This year, YOKOHAMA tires will again support the aggressive driving of drivers aiming to capture the series championship in many classes.

Last year, Yokohama Rubber supplied teams competing in several classes with a lineup of tires that deliver superior performance on various surfaces, starting with ADVAN A053 tires and including ADVAN A031 tires for softer surfaces and ADVAN A036 tires for ultra-hard surfaces. Teams using YOKOHAMA tires captured series championships in six classes. This year, YOKOHAMA high-performance tires will again support the aggressive driving of drivers aiming to capture the series championship in many classes.

As part of the Company’s motorsports promotion activities, the Yokohama Motorsports Scholarship 2024 program supports participants in rally, gymkhana, and dirt trial competitions in Japan. The deadline for applications for this year’s program is April 30 (postmark date). The scholarship program is open to registered users of YOKOHAMA tires. Details, including eligible competitions, are posted on the program’s website.

Yokohama Motorsports Scholarship 2024 website (Japanese):
https://www.y-yokohama.com/cp/motorsports/scholarship/

Yokohama Rubber will supply tires to drivers participating in the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge 2024, HONDA N-ONE’s one-make N-ONE OWNER’S CUP races, and other participatory motorsports events being held at circuits around Japan.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply its GEOLANDAR M/T G003 to teams participating in this year’s Asia Cross Country Rally, the largest cross country rally in Asia. GEOLANDAR equipped vehicles dominated at AXCR 2023, finishing first, second, and third, and capturing a second-straight overall championship. We are aiming for a third-straight overall championship at AXCR 2024.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply its GEOLANDAR brand tires for SUVs and pickup trucks to teams competing in major off-road races in North America, including the Baja 1000, King of the Hammers, and the Mint 400. This year we are aiming for overall championships in several series and are off to a good start, with GEOLANDAR equipped vehicles participating in February’s King of the Hammers finishing first in three classes—4900 Can-Am Sportsman Stock UTV, 4600 Currie Enterprises Stock, and 4500 Yukon Gear and Axle Modified.

Following last year’s success, Yokohama Rubber will again supply its ADVAN NEOVA AD09 to several teams participating in this year FDJ. We will also supply ADVAN NEOVA AD09 tires and ADVAN APEX V601 tires as the control tires for, respectively, FDJ2 and FDJ3 races.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Xm1BdXwuM

https://www.y-yokohama.com/cp/global/motorsports/

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