Yokohama has announced that a car equipped with its global flagship Advan brand tyres finished first in the GT300 class in Round 5 (series’ final round) of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series, Japan’s ultimate touring car racing series. The win in the series final round held on December 7-8 at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture enabled the team to secure a come-from-behind series championship.
The victory realises Yokohama’s goal of recapturing the GT300 class championship in the SUPER GT Series as part of its Advan Challenge, which seeks to maximise sales of Advan tyres. Advan tyres’ excellent performance supported the winning car throughout the 2024 series, resulting in a Yokohama tyre equipped car capturing the title last won in 2022.
The Round 5 GT300 winning car was JLOC’s Venteny Lamborghini GT3, driven by Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima. The team followed up their first victory in Round 2 with wins in Round 7 and Round 8, but started the final round 11 points behind in the team rankings. However, they came in first in the final round’s qualifying race to capture the pole position for Sunday’s final race.
Taking the wheel from the start, Motojima got off to a strong start, and his careful yet aggressive driving kept him in the lead until he turned over the wheel to Kogure. Kogure briefly surrendered the lead to a team that opted for a no-tyre-change strategy, but Kogure quickly closed the gap and retook the lead on the 38th lap and held it to the finish line.
Winning the final three rounds of the series enabled Motojima and Kogure to come from behind in the series point rankings and capture the championship title, a first for Motojima and Kogure’s first since winning the GT500 class title in 2010. It was also the long-awaited first Team title for JLOC, which has competed in the SUPER GT since its inauguration in 1994 as the Japan GT Championship.
Source: Tyretradenews
