Teams running on YOKOHAMA’s ADVAN racing tires dominate GT300 class winners’ podium at Round 7 of SUPER GT

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is pleased to announce that teams running on ADVAN racing tires dominated the winners’ podium for the GT300 class race in Round 7 of the 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, held on November 7-8 at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi Prefecture. The GT300 class victory in Round 7 by a Yokohama Rubber supported team follows earlier wins in Rounds 2, 5, and 6, for a total of four wins in this year’s AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, Japan’s ultimate touring car race series.

The winning team was KONDO RACING’s Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (drivers: Kiyoto Fujinami and Joao Paulo de Oliveira). GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO’s GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (drivers: Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka) occupied second place on the podium, and the third-place team was TOMEI SPORTS’ RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R (drivers: Takayuki Aoki and Takuya Otaki). Trouble on the track led to the safety car coming out on lap 23 and after all cars had made pit stops and changed drivers, a fierce battle ensued between Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R and GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG. Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R took the lead on lap 32 and held on to take the checkered flag. RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R moved up to third place on the final lap to complete the dominant performance by YOKOHAMA supported teams.

Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R’s win was its second of the season, following its GT300 class victory in Round 5, and the team heads for the season’s final Round 8 on the last weekend of November at the top of the team and driver rankings. GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG claimed its second consecutive podium finish, and RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R achieved its first podium finish of the season.

The technology strategy outlined in the company’s current medium-term management plan, the Grand Design 2020 (GD2020), positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to Yokohama Rubber’s effort to be at the vanguard of the development of new tire technologies. Yokohama Rubber is therefore participating in a wide variety of events in Japan and around the globe, from top-category races to grassroots races. In this year’s SUPER GT series, Yokohama Rubber is supplying tires to 20 machines competing in the GT300 class and three machines running in the GT500 races. Overseas, Yokohama Rubber is supporting teams active in a wide range of race categories as part of its effort to promote motorsports around the world. Yokohama Rubber will continue to be actively involved in motorsports as it continues its pursuit of the highest level tire technologies.