Yokohama Tire-Sponsored Drivers Head to Pikes Peak

Yokohama is returning to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and for the fourth straight year as the sponsor and exclusive tire supplier of The Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama. The company says this year’s effort will be highlighted by the addition of several new drivers in multiple classes.

The 99th running of the “Race to the Clouds” is set for June 27 in Colorado Springs. The new Yokohama-sponsored drivers are Tanner Foust, Codie Vahsholtz and Randy Pobst.

According to the company, Foust, a Team Yokohama member and Rallycross/Formula Drift champ, heads the list of competitors in the five-car Porsche GT4 class. The company says all will continue to set records on Yokohama’s ADVAN A052 tires.

Veteran racer Clint Vahsholtz, who won the overall championship and the Open Wheel division on ADVAN A005 tires last year, is handing the reins over to his son Codie, a multiple Pikes Peak winner in the motorcycle division, the company says. Vahsholtz will be driving the 12.42-mile race in a 2013 Ford Open.

Pobst, who will compete in the Exhibition Class in the Unplugged Performance Tesla, will also be on A005 slicks.

Yokohama says it is also partnering with BBi Autosport, which is back for the sixth time at Pikes Peak, supporting three Porsche race cars in three classes, including Foust; 2019 class winner Raphael Astier driving the record-setting OPTIMA GT3 “TurboCup” in the Open Class; and David Donohue returning to Time Attack 1 in the Audrain Motorsport GT2 RS Clubsport. Yokohama is providing technical support and equipping the TurboCup and GT2 RS with ADVAN A005 slicks.

For livestreaming of the race, go to https://www.facebook.com/Mobil1/.

Toyo Tire announced the development of catalysts that convert carbon dioxide into butadiene in high yield in collaboration with the University of Toyama. The company said it and the university successfully synthesized butadiene rubber, a key raw materials for tires, using CO2.

The composition ratios of raw materials used for automobile tires varies by category, and petroleum-derived synthetic rubbers including butadiene units (styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and butadiene rubber (BR)) account for approximately 30% of raw material overall. This being the case, the tire industry has been activating the research of synthesis of butadiene rubber derived from naturally alternative materials (resources) other than petroleum for practical application.