Yokohama Rubber supported team captures ROWE Speed-Trophy awarded to Nürburgring Endurance Series champion

The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., is delighted to announce that the Walkenhorst Motorsport racing team captured the ROWE Speed-Trophy awarded to the series champion of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS). Yokohama Rubber supplied its ADVAN racing tires to the team. In addition, David Pittard, one of the team’s drivers, was declared the champion driver in the top-level SP9 Pro class. YOKOHAMA’s “ADVAN A005” tires for dry conditions and “ADVAN A006” tires for wet conditions delivered stability and superior performance to the team in all the season’s races.

The 2020 NLS season began in June but the final three rounds 6-8 scheduled to be held in October and November were cancelled by the renewed outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe. As a result, the series championship was decided by points accumulated during the first five races. Walkenhorst Motorsport’s BMW M6 GT3, competing in the SP9 Pro class, turned in dominant performances in the five races, with one first-place finish, two second-place finishes, and one third-place finish. The NLS is the new name of the endurance race series that was previously called the VLN series. The world’s largest grassroots racing series, the NLS (and previously the VLN) is run on the Nürburgring Nordschleife (“North loop” track), which is said to be the world’s most demanding course, and the Grand Prix track. Positioned as a stepping stone to the Nürburgring 24-Hour Endurance Race, the NLS/VLN series is hotly contested by an average of 170 vehicles each year.

The technology strategy outlined in Yokohama Rubber’s Grand Design 2020 (GD2020) medium-term management plan positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to the company’s effort to be at the vanguard of the development of new tire technologies. Yokohama Rubber is therefore participating in a wide variety of motorsports events in Japan and around the globe, from formula and touring car races to rally, off-road and kart races. Yokohama Rubber actively supports teams 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.