Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is pleased to announce that a car equipped with its global flagship ADVAN brand tires finished first in the GT300 class in Round 8 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series, Japan’s ultimate touring car racing series. Round 8 was held on November 2-3 at Mobility Resort Motegi in Tochigi Prefecture. The Round 8 victory follows a win by the same team in Round 7 at the AUTOPOLIS Circuit and moves the driver team up in the point standings to second place. The team is now aiming to win the series championship at season’s final race. Yokohama Rubber looks forward to recapturing the GT300 class championship in the SUPER GT Series as part of its ADVAN CHALLENGE, which seeks to maximize sales of ADVAN tires. ADVAN tires’ excellent performance supported the winning car as it raced to victory.

The Round 8 GT300 winning car was JLOC’s VENTENY Lamborghini GT3, driven by Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima. Taking the wheel from the start in 17th position on the grid, Motojima raced at a breakneck pace, overtaking more than 10 cars in the race’s first half. He continued moving toward the front and was among the leaders when he turned the wheel over to Kogure, who took the lead during the 34th lap and held on to it for the remainder of the race, taking the checkered flag with a wide margin over the second place finisher. TEAM UPGARAGE’s UPGARAGE NSX GT3, also racing on ADVAN tires finished third, giving drivers Takashi Kobayashi and Syun Koide, their first podium finish of the season.

The consumer tire strategy in Yokohama Rubber’s 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 in Japan and around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.