Hiratsuka, Japan—The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced today that it will supply its GEOLANDAR M/T G003 mud-terrain tires for SUVs and pickup trucks to more than 20 teams participating in this year’s Asia Cross Country Rally (hereafter AXCR), Asia’s largest cross country rally, which is scheduled to be held during August 8–16. Yokohama Rubber looks forward to contributing to an overall championship by one of the strong teams it is supporting, such as Team Mitsubishi Ralliart and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Indonesia
Team Mitsubishi Ralliart is a rally team operated by Tant Sport (Thailand), with technical support from Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart achieved victory in its first AXCR in 2022, with a Triton, Mitsubishi Motors’ global strategic model one-ton pickup truck. In 2023, the team finished third with a new model Triton that was launched in July that year, just one month before AXCR in August. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart turned in another strong performance in 2024, when one of its cars finished fifth. This year, Team Mitsubishi Ralliart plans to enter three new-model Triton vehicles The 2022 champion driver Chayapon Yotha and last year’s 5th-place finisher Katsuhiko Taguchi will compete in upgraded Triton cars based on the previous model’s specifications. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart’s third Triton will be an automatic transmission model optimized for competition and driven by Kazuto Koide, who completed the race in his first AXCR appearance last year.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Indonesia captured the overall championship in the 2023 AXCR and aims to regain the championship this year. The team will enter two Toyota Fortuner vehicles, a popular frame-type SUV sold mostly in Asia. The two lead drivers will be Ikuo Hanawa, one of Japan’s top off-road racers who finished 4th last year, and Tubagus Adhi Moerinsyahdi, who finished 2nd in 2023.
Other teams racing on YOKOHAMA’s GEOLANDAR tires will include the
ISUZU SUPHAN YOKOHAMA LIQUI MOLY RACING TEAM, whose cars finished 2nd and 3rd in last year’s AXCR, and the GEOLANDAR takuma-gp FORTUNER team led by Takuma Aoki, who won the overall championship in 2023.
YOKOHAMA’s GEOLANDAR M/T G003 tires deliver superior performance on the full range of off-road surfaces over an exceptionally long lifespan. In addition, the tire features a sturdy and aggressive design that enhances the off-road driving sensation. YOKOHAMA’s GEOLANDAR brand tires, including the M/T G003, have established a strong track record in off-road races held around the world, including the overall championship at the 2022 and 2023 AXCR events.
First held in 1996, AXCR is an FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) certified event. In recent years, the AXCR has been run over a different course each year, with the starting line in Thailand and then passing through many Southeast Asian countries as it winds through a diverse range of terrains, from mountains and jungles to beaches and plantations, and even race circuits. This year’s rally will be staged completely in Thailand, starting and finishing in Pattaya and covering about 3,250km, much longer than last year’s 2,100km race.
The consumer tire strategy in Yokohama Rubber’s three-year (2024–2026) medium-term management plan, Yokohama Transformation 2026 (YX2026), aims to maximize the sales ratios of high-value-added tires by expanding sales of YOKOHAMA’s global flagship ADVAN brand, the GEOLANDAR brand of tires for SUVs and pickup trucks, winter tires, and 18-inch and larger tires. Yokohama Rubber positions participation in motorsports activities as crucial to its effort to further strengthen the ADVAN and GEOLANDAR brands. Yokohama Rubber therefore is again participating in a wide variety of motorsports events around the globe, from top-category to grassroots events.
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