Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., today announced its motorsports activity plan for 2026. 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 develop new tire technologies that will 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.

Yokohama Rubber has renewed its exclusive agreement to serve as the Official Tire Partner of the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship, Japan's premier motorsport, and will again be supplying ADVAN racing tires as the control tires for the entire series, which will further advance our development of tire technology and strengthen our brand power. Yokohama Rubber also will again be supplying ADVAN racing tires to teams participating in many other prestigious motorsports series, including the SUPER GT, Nürburgring 24-Hours, and Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where we will compete with other tire makers to achieve class victories and overall championships.

Yokohama Rubber has become a supporting sponsor of the American Off-Road Racing Championship (AORC), launched in the United States in 2026 as the premier desert off-road racing series in North America. We will supply GEOLANDAR tires to many of the top participating teams aiming to win the overall championship. In addition, we will again be supplying GEOLANDAR tires to support teams aiming for victories in several other leading off-road races in North America, including the King of the Hammers (Held in February) and the Championship Off-Road series. In Asia, we will be seeking a second straight overall championship in the Asia Cross Country Rally (AXCR). Our participation and success in these off-road race is strengthening the GEOLANDAR brand.

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.

Yokohama Rubber has renewed its contract as an Official Tire Partner and supplier of the control tires for the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship series, continuing a relationship began in 2016. Under the new contract, we will supply our ADVAN racing tires through the 2030 season and pursue technological developments and marketing activities that will promote SUPER FORMULA’s continued development. In 2026, Yokohama Rubber will strengthen its brand power by again supplying tires with a high renewable & recycled raw materials content ratio of about 46%* and introducing the SUPER POLE QUALIFYING Supported by YOKOHAMA TIRE, a three-stage (Q3) knockout qualifying format.
* Average ratio for dry- and wet-use tires

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 2026, we will supply ADVAN racing tires to one car in the GT500 class and 17 cars GT300 class, and we look forward to victories in both classes as well as another series championship in the GT300 class.

Yokohama Rubber will supply ADVAN racing tires to three teams participating in this year’s Nürburgring 24-Hour Race (ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring), including Haupt Racing Team, KONDO RACING with Rinaldi, and BMW M Motorsport, as we aim for an overall championship. Last year, Haupt Racing raced to a first-place finish in the SP9 PRO-AM class on ADVAN tires, and KONDO RACING with Rinaldi finished 2nd in the official qualifying race and made a good showing in the final race, staying among the leaders for most of the race. This year, Yokohama Rubber is teaming up with BMW M Motorsport for the first time in almost 40 years and will supply ADVAN tires for two BMW M Motorsport’s cars being entered in this year’s race—an ADVAN-colored car being entered by Schubert Motorsport and a special car entered by BMW M Motorsport and developed especially for the fans at the Nürburgring. We also will supply tires to teams competing in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) series of endurance races and look forward to supporting overall winners in many of the series’ races.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply ADVAN racing tires as the control tire for three Porsche one-make races in the United States. 2026 will be the sixth straight year the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama and Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama are using ADVAN tires as the control tire, and the third straight year for the Porsche Endurance Challenge North America. We are thrilled to again be supporting North America's most exciting one-make racing series.

Yokohama Rubber will again be supplying ADVAN racing tires as the control tire for the new Mustang Cup one-make series, which was launched in 2025 and features Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race cars.

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 in Thailand and the Inter Proto Series in Japan.

Yokohama Rubber will again participate in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States, supplying our ADVAN racing tires to many top-class drivers, as we aim to regain the overall championship and achieve victories in several divisions. In addition, we will again be sponsoring and providing the control tire for the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama. In 2025, cars fitted with ADVAN racing tires were victorious in two divisions.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply ADVAN rally tires to top-level teams competing in many classes, including NUTAHARA Rally Team, which will be driving an ADVAN-colored car, and SUBARU Team ARAI. Both teams will compete in the highest JN-1 class. We are again aiming for championships in multiple classes as well as the overall championship. Last year, we supplied our high-performance ADVAN A051T, ADVAN A08B and ADVAN A052 tires for use on tarmac (paved roads), as well as the ADVAN A053 for use on gravel (dirt roads). Vehicles equipped with YOKOHAMA tires won the JN-1 class at the ARK Rally Kamuy, the fifth round of the series, and also captured the JN-3 class series championship for the third consecutive year.

Yokohama Rubber will be supporting the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge as a partner company for a second consecutive year in 2026. Last season, cars equipped with YOKOHAMA tires had excellent results, winning the series championship in three classes. This season, Yokohama Rubber will again supply ADVAN rally tires that are optimized for use on various surfaces and will enable drivers to race aggressively. We look forward to winning titles in many classes.

In 2026, Yokohama Rubber will supply high-performance sports tires, such as the ADVAN A052, that have been newly certified by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) as tires that can be fitted on PN/P/AE class vehicles. Our highly rated ADVAN A050 competition tire will be supplied to cars in the BC classes. These high-performance tires will support the aggressive driving of drivers aiming to capture the series championship in many classes.

Yokohama Rubber will again support the aggressive driving of drivers aiming to capture the series championship in many classes by supplying a lineup of tires that deliver superior performance on various surfaces, starting with ADVAN A053 tires for use on normal and hard dirt, ADVAN A031 tires for softer dirt, and ADVAN A036 tires for ultra-hard dirt surfaces. Last year, cars using our tires won series championships for a third year in a row in the PN3 and D2 classes.

As part of the company’s motorsports promotion activities, the Yokohama Motorsports Scholarship 2026 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 2026 website (Japanese):
https://www.y-yokohama.com/cp/motorsports/scholarship

Yokohama Rubber supplies its ADVAN tires to many grassroots motorsports events around the world. In 2026, we will again be supporting motorsports events open to a wide group of drivers, from first-timers to experienced racers, including the new CATERHAM CUP JAPAN, for which we will supply ADVAN dB V553 tires as the control tire.

Yokohama Rubber has become a supporting sponsor of the new American Off-Road Racing Championship, launched in the United States in 2026 as the premier desert off-road racing series in North America. We also will be supplying participating racers with our GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks. The new AORC series brings together several world-class off-road races, including Best in the Desert and The Mint 400. The series championship will be decided by drivers’ combined performance in five races on grueling desert courses.

Yokohama Rubber participated in the recently held King of the Hammers, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2026, serving as the title sponsor of the series’ Every Man Challenge (EMC) and supplying tires to drivers competing in many classes. In addition, we will participate in the Championship Off-Road, a short-course, off-road racing series, supplying drivers with our GEOLANDAR X-AT and GEOLANDAR A/T4 off-road tires. We also will be supplying GEOLANDAR M/T G003 tires as the official specification tire for all vehicles in TrophyLite Series of desert races for an eighth consecutive year. This series provides drivers from a diverse range of motorsport disciplines an opportunity to step up into desert races.

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. Following our overall victories in 2022, 2023, and 2025, we are aiming to win two consecutive overall championships.

Yokohama Rubber will supply GEOLANDAR X-AT and GEOLANDAR A/T4 tires to teams participating in the XCR Sprint Cup Series, which includes one race held in conjunction with the Japan Rally Championship. Last year, vehicles fitted with GEOLANDAR tires won the series championship in the XC-1 and XC-2 classes. This year we aim to win championships in more classes.

Yokohama Rubber will again supply its ADVAN NEOVA AD09 street sports tire to several teams aiming for victory 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.

We will supply a team aiming for victory in this race with our global flagship tire ADVAN brand tires.

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

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