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YOKOHAMA is pleased to announce that a car equipped with ADVAN racing tyres finished first in the GT300 class of the opening round of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, Japan’s top-level touring car racing series. Round 1 was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Okayama Prefecture over the April 10-11 weekend.

The winning car was the 2020 GT300-class champion, KONDO RACING’s No. 56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (drivers: Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira). A quick pit-stop immediately before the second appearance of the Safety Car enabled No. 56 to return to the course ahead of the field and it held onto the lead when the race resumed. Driving adeptly and powerfully, Joao Paulo de Oliveira held onto the lead all the way to the checkered flag, for a great start to the 2021 series for the reigning champions.

The consumer tyre business in YOKOHAMA’s new three-year (2021–2023) medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023), aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added YOKOHAMA tyres, namely the global flagship ADVAN brand, the GEOLANDAR brand of tyres for SUVs and pickup trucks, and various winter tyres. YX2023 positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to the company’s effort to develop new tyre technologies that will further strengthen the ADVAN and GEOLANDAR brands. YOKOHAMA therefore is again participating in a wide variety of motorsports events in Japan and around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events. In the 2021 SUPER GT series, YOKOHAMA is supplying tyres for 19 machines competing in the GT300 class, including the KONDO RACING’s Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R, and two cars running in the GT500 class.