News

The Sumitomo Rubber Group is pleased to announce that our European tire sales subsidiary, FALKEN Tyre Europe GmbH, will be competing as “Team FALKEN Motorsports” in one of the world’s premier touring car races: the Nürburgring 24h-Race (Official Name: ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring), which will be held this coming May 18 through 21 in Nürburg, Germany. As this year marks our 25^th year of competing in the Nürburgring 24h-Race, Team FALKEN Motorsports will be gunning for the title with two brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 R racecars. 
At the same time, as an Official Sponsor of the Nürburgring 24h-Race through our FALKEN Brand, the Sumitomo Rubber Group is also proud to once again play a part in bringing so much excitement to so many racing fans throughout the world.
In addition, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is also pleased to announce that we will be supplying our high-performance FALKEN Tires to SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL, who will be competing in the SP4T Class for the first time (after years of competing in the SP3T Class) with their brand-new “SUBARU WRX NBR CHALLENGE 2023” racecar. Through such high-profile exposure at this year’s Nürburgring 24h-Race, we hope to further enhance the value of our FALKEN Brand, which has already garnered widespread popularity throughout Europe and North America.

Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Decked Out in FALKEN Colors	SUBARU WRX NBR CHALLENGE 2023

Through Team FALKEN Motorsports, the Sumitomo Rubber Group has competed in the Nürburgring 24h-Race since 1999, making this our 25^th year competing in what is widely considered to be the world’s toughest endurance race. At last year’s race, drastic differences in road temperature between night and day as well as a sudden downpour on the second day of the race made the already punishing racecourse all the more daunting and led to several crashes throughout the race. While the extremely tough course and inclement weather combined to make simply reaching the finish line an enormous challenge in and of itself, the two racecars decked out in FALKEN colors not only finished the race, but one of them even placed ninth overall, which was the best showing among any Porsche vehicle competing in last year’s race. Team FALKEN Motorsports’ strong showing at last year’s race was all thanks to the high overall performance of FALKEN Tires, which excel at gripping both wet and dry roads while also providing robust endurance. 
In addition to the Nürburgring 24h-Race, Team FALKEN Motorsports also competed in the “Nürburgring Endurance Series,” posting consecutive wins in the fifth and sixth races of the series as highlights of an outstanding all-around season.

For this year’s race, Team FALKEN Motorsports has upgraded to the latest model that Porsche has to offer, and so we will be competing with twin Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) racecars. Meanwhile, in order to develop tires to bring out the full performance potential of brand-new vehicles that have never raced before, we have taken full advantage of advanced Model Based Tire Development Technology. This development technique involves creating digital models of both the vehicle itself and tires designed to maximize vehicle performance and then using these models as the basis for simulations. This technique allows us to fine-tune tire specifications before the prototyping stage. In other words, by repeatedly designing and evaluating tire models instead of actual tires, we are able to vastly reduce the amount of time spent testing prototype tires, thereby improving the overall efficiency of development while also reducing resource consumption in the prototyping process.
 

In addition, SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL will be competing for the first time in the SP4T Class in a brand-new racecar based on the WRX S4: “SUBARU WRX NBR CHALLENGE 2023.” In addition to such world-class drivers as Carlo van Dam and Tim Schrick, Super GT superstars Hideki Yamauchi and Takuto Iguchi will also be taking the wheel at the Nürburgring for the first time in four years as SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL aims for the title in the SP4T Class for the very first time. For this year’s race, SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL will once again have the full support of an elite team of eight mechanics handpicked from SUBARU dealerships throughout Japan. At the same time, the Sumitomo Rubber Group will also be supplying FALKEN Tires to SUBARU TECNICA International, providing outstanding all-around performance in terms of wet and dry grip, durability and more in order to support the team right where the racecar meets the road.
 

■Nürburgring 24h-Race Plan

*Team assignments are subject to change. Nico Menzel will compete in both Car No. 33 and Car No. 44.
  

■Nürburgring 24h-Race

Taking place at the Nürburgring, which is also famously used as an R&D test track for automobile and tire manufacturers, this 24-hour endurance race is considered by many to be the world's toughest race. At around 25km per lap, the race makes use of the Nürburgring's full course, combining the Nordschleife (North Loop), which features an elevation difference of 300m between its highest and lowest points and some 170 corners (including blind corners), and the more modern Grand Prix Circuit, which was also used for F1 racing.