Yokohama Rubber has signed a partnership agreement with Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing’s Haupt Racing Team (HRT). As part of the Advan Challenge that seeks to maximize sales of Advan tires, Yokohama Rubber said it is aiming for victories at the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race and Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS) by supplying its Advan racing tires for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 being entered in those races by HRT.
HRT secured the drivers’ championship in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series in its second motorsport season. In 2023, Yokohama says the team celebrated its most successful season to date and competed in the DTM, NLS, the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe and the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps – in some cases with works support from Mercedes-AMG.
Over the years, Yokohama Rubber has supported many teams participating in the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race, a motorsports event where the world’s leading tire makers display their tires’ performance under demanding conditions as part of a global competition. Cars equipped with Yokohama tires have won the overall championship three times. In last year’s NLS, cars equipped with Yokohama tires won five of the nine races as well as the NLS Speed Trophy and the NIMEX Team Trophy in the NLS highest SP9 Pro Class.
The consumer tire strategy in Yokohama Rubber’s new 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 said.
