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Opening Race of the 2006 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship "Red in Black" ADVAN Colors Triumph in Traditional Event |
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Tokyo-Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announces that a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX with ADVAN racing tires driven by Fumio Nutahara achieved an impressive win in Rally Monte Carlo, held January 20 (Friday) to 22 (Sunday), the first race of the 2006 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship.
The winning Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX wore the "Red in Black" ADVAN colors, symbolizing Yokohama Rubber’s racing tires. The fact that an ADVAN-colored car won the opening race of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC), which is incorporated into the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), dramatically highlights the superb performance - and strong presence - of ADVAN tires to the world.
Begun in 1911, Rally Monte Carlo is one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events, staged at the foot of the Alps, based in Monaco, at the border with France. It is well known as a difficult course seasonally, consisting of dry, wet, snowy, slushy and icy segments. Matching tire performance to the surface conditions goes a long way toward determining the outcome of a race.
This time, Yokohama Rubber prepared five types of tires: three for dry surfaces - ADVAN A006T - three compounds for ultra-low temperatures, low temperatures and medium temperatures; and two types of snow tires. Holding the top position through the first and second days, Nutahara used the ADVAN A006T with studs on the final day, focusing on their advantages on dry surfaces. That decision, and the excellent performance of the tires themselves, left competing cars far behind, and turned the finish into a virtually one-man race.
The Production Car World Rally Championship is a series, held eight times a year. In comparison with cars in the World Rally Championship, the scope of modifications is limited, and the cars are very close to those commercially available. The Lancer Evoluti on IX in ADVAN colors driven by Nutahara is aiming for championships in two series in 2006, the P-WRC and the All Japan Rally Championship, the top rally championship in Japan. Nutahara has won the All Japan Rally Championship series four years in row. |
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