News Release

Yokohama Rubber again participating in US’s most challenging hill climb—Aiming for 3rd straight overall championship

2024.June.19

  • Motor sports relation

Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced today that its US subsidiary Yokohama Tire Corporation will be supplying ADVAN tires, including ultra-high performance tires to more than 15 cars competing in six divisions of the 102nd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb to be held in Colorado, USA, on June 23. Yokohama Rubber is aiming for a third straight overall championship at Pikes Peak as part of the ADVAN CHALLENGE, which seeks to maximize sales of ADVAN tires.

This year, Yokohama Rubber will supply its ADVAN A005 racing tires and its ultra-high performance ADVAN Sport V107 tires to three electric vehicles (EVs) being entered by a team supported by Hyundai. The Hyundai support team has selected Robin Shute, who captured the overall championship at Pikes Peak in 2022 and 2023 while driving vehicles equipped with ADVAN tires, as the driver of one of its EV entries, the new high-performance Ioniq 5 N TA Spec, which will be fitted with YOKOHAMA’s ADVAN A005 racing tires. Yokohama Rubber also will supply its ADVAN A005 tires to a number of other leading drivers, including David Donahue, competing again in the Time Attack 1 Division in which he has finished first the past two years while driving on ADVAN tires.

Yokohama Rubber also will supply its ADVAN A052 street sports tire as the control tire for cars competing for the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama. In previous years, this division was called the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama and was a one-make race for Porsche GT4 cars, but this year the division has been opened up to GT4 cars from other makers, which is expected to make it an even more exciting race.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a hill climb race with a long and illustrious history dating back to 1916.It is also known as the “Race to the Clouds”, as the course starts at 2,862 meters above sea level and covers about 20 kilometers before reaching the finish line at an altitude of 4,302 meters. Cars fitted with YOKOHAMA tires captured the Pikes Peak overall championship in 2020, 2022, and 2023.

The consumer tire strategy in Yokohama Rubber’s new three-year (2024–2026) medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026), aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added tires by expanding sales of YOKOHAMA’s global flagship ADVAN brand, the GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks, winter tires, and 18-inch and larger tires. Yokohama Rubber positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to its effort to further strengthen the ADVAN and GEOLANDAR brands. Yokohama Rubber therefore is again participating in a wide variety of motorsports events around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.

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「ADVAN A005(DRY)」

「ADVAN A005(DRY)」

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「ADVAN A052」

「ADVAN A052」

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「ADVAN Sport V107」

「ADVAN Sport V107」

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A Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec (EV) that will be driven by Robin Shute

A Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec (EV) that will be driven by Robin Shute

YTC-sponsored participants in this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (as of date of this release)