ADVAN-equipped car also finished third in the GT500 class

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is pleased to announce that cars outfitted with its global flagship ADVAN brand tires dominated the GT300 class in Round 3 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series, Japan’s top-level touring car racing series. Round 3 was held on August 21-22 at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. In addition to the winner in the GT300 class, the next five GT300 class cars to cross the finish line were all running on ADVAN tires. An ADVAN-equipped car also finished third in the GT500 class.

The GT300 class winner was Max Racing’s Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi). JLOC’s JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) finished second, followed by GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO’s GOODSMILE Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka), filling the podium with teams supported by Yokohama Rubber. The Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT started 3rd on the grid based on the previous day’s qualifying session and was in the lead after 24 laps, when it made a pit stop to change drivers. After returning to the track, it battled with the JLOC Lamborghini GT3 for the lead, ultimately surging ahead on lap 38 and held on to the lead for the rest of the 52-lap race. The GOODSMILE Hatsune Miku AMG moved up toward the end of the race to finish in 3rd place.

The Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT’s win was the first GT300 victory for Max Racing and its two drivers, and it vaulted the drivers and the team to the top of the 2021 season standings. Meanwhile, the JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and GOODSMILE Hatsune Miku AMG teams got to the podium for the first time this season. The first-place finish was the second this year for a YOKOHAMA Tire-supported team in the GT300 class, following a win in the seasons’ opening race.

In the GT500 class, KONDO RACING’s Realize corporation ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Daiki Sasaki) started in the No. 4 position and was in 6th place after completing their last pit stop and driver change on the GT500 class 25th lap. It then overtook three cars over the rest of the race to capture 3rd place, this season’s second podium finish in the GT500 class for a YOKOHAMA Tire–supported team.

Under Yokohama Rubber’s three-year (2021–2023) medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2023 (YX2023), the consumer tire business aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added YOKOHAMA tires, namely the global flagship ADVAN brand, the GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks, and various winter tires. YX2023 also positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to the company’s effort to develop new tire technologies that will 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.