Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is pleased to announce that a car fitted with its global flagship ADVAN brand tires finished first in the GT300 class in Round 5 of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series, Japan’s ultimate GT (Grand Touring) car racing series. Round 5 was a 52 lap/300km race held on August 23-24 at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. The victory is the third this season in the GT300 class for a car fitted with ADVAN tires. Yokohama Rubber looks forward to winning a second consecutive series championship in the GT300 class this year, and its ADVAN tires’ excellent performance supported the winner of Round 5.

The winning car was CARGUY MKS RACING’s No. 7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3, driven by Zak O’sullivan and Rikuto Kobayashi). This season is the first for CARGUY MKS RACING team in the SUPER GT. After finishing 2nd in the qualifying race, the No. 7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 started the final in the front row with O’sullivan behind the wheel. He boldly attacked the lead car from the start, staying close until passing the baton to Kobayashi after a pit stop on lap 18. Kobayashi then maintained a steady, high pace despite not being able to receive any information from the team owing to a radio problem. He took the lead on lap 35 and maintained his brisk pace to the checkered flag, finishing 17 seconds ahead of the 2nd place car. The O’sullivan/Kobayashi 20-year-old rookie duo achieved a spectacular first victory in Round 5 at Suzuka.

Another ADVAN-fitted car, TEAM MACH’s No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (drivers: Yusuke Shiotsu/Iori Kimura) finished in third place in Round 5.

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 around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.