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Powered byJUly 2011 • issUe 45

MULLER MAKES HIS MOVE

Alain Menu and Rob Huff claimed a win apiece when the YOKOHAMA-supplied FIA World Touring Car

Championship (WTCC) visited Porto, Portugal, for rounds 11 and 12 of the 2011 season on 3 July 2011.Swiss racer Menu claimed pole position in qualifying with a lap time of 2:04.946, ahead of his Chevrolet team-mates Yvan Muller (2:05.280) and Huff (2:05.284).When the opening race began, Lukoil-SUNRED’s Gabriele Tarquini enjoyed a good start, nearly overtaking Huff for third in the opening corners. Drivers’ Championship leader Huff held firm though, with Chevrolet claiming a 1-2-3 finish.In the weekend’s closing race, Stefano D’Aste sat on pole ahead of Muller and Huff. His lead lasted three laps: the Italian driver hit a wall, giving the lead to Muller.Huff also passed D’Aste two laps later, before chasing down Muller. On lap nine, Huff overtook Muller to take his sixth victory of the season, with Tiago Monteiro third.

Muller clinched a sensational double victory at Donington Park, UK, when rounds 13 and 14

took place at the circuit on 17 July 2011.The reigning WTCC Champion clinched top spot in qualifying with a lap time of 1:38.470, just 0.081s ahead of Britain’s Huff. The pole-sitter carried his form into the opening race, sealing a lights to flag victory with Huff and Menu behind him in another Chevrolet 1-2-3.Round 14 was a tighter race, with Tom Coronel on pole. Muller and Huff climbed up to second and third respectively, before overtaking new race leader Engstler, who inherited the lead when Coronel ran wide on lap three. Muller held on to take the win, while Huff and Engstler took the other podium spots.“Donington Park was a great challenge,” said YOKOHAMA Technical Department Manager Susumu Watanabe. “Going to a new track is always exciting: we’ve learned a lot about the track this week.”

Race 1, Porto, Result1. Alain Menu Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T2. Yvan Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T3. Rob Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T4. Tiago Monteiro Sunred SR León 1.6T

Race 2, Porto, Result1. Rob Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T2. Yvan Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T3. Tiago Monteiro Sunred SR León 1.6T4. Norbert Michelisz BMW 320 TC

Race One Alain Menu 2:06.815Race Two Rob Huff 2:05.846

WHAT’S THE POINTRace 1, Donington Park, Result1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T2. Rob Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T3. Alain Menu Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T4. Tom Coronel BMW 320 TC

Race 2, Donington Park, Result1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T2. Rob Huff Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T3. Franz Engstler BMW 320 TC4. Tom Coronel BMW 320 TC

Race One Rob Huff 1:37.380Race Two Yvan Muller 1:37.993

Championship Points1. Rob Huff (GBR) 2632. Yvan Muller (FRA) 2483. Alain Menu (SUI) 1924. Tom Coronel (NED) 124

WTCC Jay-Ten 1. Aleksei Dudukalo (RUS) 752. Pepe Oriola (ESP) 473. Michel Nykjær (DEN) 384. Fabio Fabiani (ITA) 32

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Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, GermanyLap distance: 3.696km Race distance: 2 x 14 laps

WTCC Race Lap Record:Alain Menu 1:36.543 5 September 20102010 Winners: Race 1: Alain Menu Chevrolet CruzeRace 2: Andy Priaulx BMW 320si

Team YOKOHAMA has once again set the record for an electric vehicle (EV) at 89th the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, breaking its previous record in Colorado, USA, on 26 June 2011.

Piloted by off-road racing expert Ikuo Hanawa, the team’s original EV racecar completed the 4.301km climb in a time of 12:20.084, beating its 2010 time by 57

seconds. The entry was equipped with YOKOHAMA’s prototype BluEarth-1, YOKOHAMA’s latest global concept tyre, designed to deliver environmental, human and socially friendly solutions.A video clip of Team YOKOHAMA’s challenge is available on YouTube, check it out at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/teamyokohama

ANOTHER RECORD BREAKING HILL CLIMB

YOKOHAMA-shod cars were successful once again at the 24 Hours Nürburgring, with supplied vehicles claiming four class victories in the famous race on 25-26 June 2011.The YOKOHAMA team travelled to circuit with over 3,500 tyres, supplying approximately a fifth of the 202-strong grid. One of the highlights of the weekend was the performance of the #22 Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, which was taken to a sixth-place finish by Kenneth Heyer, Thomas Jäger, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jan Seyffarth.Joining them in the top ten was the #26 Porsche 997 GT3 R, driven by Klaus Abbelen, Niklas Kentenich, Tim Bergmeister and two-time winner Sabine Schmitz who claimed ninth, two places ahead of the second Black Falcon entry driven by Vimal Mehta, Stephan Röler and British brothers Sean Paul and Sean Patrick Breslin.YOKOHAMA’s first class victory celebration came courtesy of the Pole Promotion BMW M3 entry, which won the SP10

class for GT4 cars. Elsewhere, there was a class win for the #170 Honda S2000, which clinched the SP3 class, as well as the #218 Mercedes-Benz C230 and the #225 Black Falcon BMW Z4, which won the V4 and V5 classes respectively.The YOKOHAMA team had little time to rest thanks to inclement weather conditions, and were also kept busy by the SEAT León Supercopa support race, of which YOKOHAMA is official and exclusive tyre partner, as well as supplying tyres to cars in the 24H-Classic race. “I’d like to thank all of the service staff and engineers for the huge effort they put in to provide top service to the teams despite the changing weather conditions,” said YOKOHAMA’s European Motorsport Manager, Farid Al-Samarrai. “Our strong performance in endurance racing is testament to the durability of our tyres and the hard work of our team.”

YOKOHAMA-supplied IRC entrants Toshi Arai and Fumio Nutahara both entered the IRC Sata Rally Açores on 14-16 July 2011, with the latter claiming the R4 group victory in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI.Nutahara secured the group win by finishing 11th overall, missing out on a top ten finish by just a second. Arai unfortunately experienced car trouble and was unable to finish the rally, but will race again in Hungary on 9-11 September, while Nutahara next races in the Czech Republic on 26-28

YOKOHAMA SUCCESS IN 24 HOURS NÜRBURGRING

Michael Kozlovskiy claimed two wins in the new YOKOHAMA-shod European Production Series (EP-Series) when the series joined the Portuguese GT Championship grid at Porto, Portugal, on 2-3 July 2011.Kozlovskiy’s two fifth-place finishes overall were enough to claim victory in both of the weekend’s races, while Kirill Ladigyn finished seventh overall in race one and sixth in race two to take second.Justino Azacarate continued his improvement, claiming third in both races in the #69 SEAT Ibiza SC Trophy. The EP-Series next travels to Valencia for the last race of the season on 3-4 September 2011.

KOZLOVSKIY DOES THE DOUBLE

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EKBLOM CONTINUES STCC TITLE CHARGE

Fredrik Ekblom ascended to the top of the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup (STCC) with a win in round ten of the

2011 season at Falkenberg, Sweden, on 2 July 2011.In qualifying, Ekblom set the pace with a lap time of 45.371s, just 0.063s faster than championship rival Rickard Rydell. Ekblom then produced a determined defensive display to win the opening race, fighting away competition from the charging Richard Göransson, who climbed from sixth on the grid to a second-place finish.Jan Nilsson secured victory in the weekend’s second race, ahead of fellow BMW drivers Johan Stureson and Colin Turkington. The battle to win the YOKOHAMA-supplied championship is tight, with Ekblom leading the standings on 129 points, just two points ahead of Rydell.

WTCC STAR DRIVER To read about YOKOHAMA’s WTCC star driver from Donington Park, Franz Engstler, please visit www.yokohama-online.com

YOKOHAMA Trophy1. Norbert Michelisz (HUN) 772. Kristian Poulsen (DEN) 753. Darryl O’Young (CHN) 724. Franz Engstler (GER) 675. Javier Villa (ESP) 646. Michel Nykjær (DEN) 617. Pepe Oriola (ESP) 328. Mehdi Bennani (MOR) 27

YOKOHAMA TROPHY: MICHELISZ AND ENGSTLER CHARGE

Norbert Michelisz and Franz Engstler claimed double victories at Porto and Donington Park respectively to

join the race for the YOKOHAMA Drivers’ Trophy Eighth and fourth-place finishes overall secured two wins for Michelisz at the Circuito da Boavista. Michelisz was joined on the podium by Michel Nykjær and Stefano D’Aste after the first race, while in race two Franz Engstler came second and Darryl O’Young clinched third.

It was Engstler who shone at Donington Park, finishing sixth overall in race one to claim the class win ahead of Nykjær and Poulsen. In the second race, the German secured a stunning third-place finish to win, with O’Young in second and Mehdi Bennani third.

YOKOHAMA SUPPORTS JAPAN AT WWC

At the WTCC race weekend at Donington Park, YOKOHAMA expressed its support for the Japanese

Women’s football team ahead of its World Cup final tie against the USA.The team joined Japanese WTCC racer Yukinori Taniguchi ahead of the first race to present its support to the team, who later that day won the final on penalties. YOKOHAMA would like to express its congratulations to the team.

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Team YOKOHAMA takes on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Rickard Rydell

at Falkenberg

The #21 Black Falcon

Mercdes-Benz SLS AMG

Fumio Nutahara at an IRC press conference

Race two at Donington Park gets underway

A late night pit-stop

at the Nürburgring

The YOKOHAMA Team working at Donington Park

Keep up-to-date with the latest YOKOHAMA motorsport action with Track News...the next issue will be available on 16 August 2011.

BluEarth + YOKOHAMA