News

Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is pleased to announce that we have finalized our motorsports activity plan for 2024. As part of our activities to contribute to the further popularization of motorsports in general, we will once again be supplying high-performance tires under our DUNLOP and FALKEN brands for both two-wheel motorsport and four-wheel vehicles competing in a wide range of racing categories—from beginner-level competitions to world-class tournaments—both in Japan and worldwide. Last year, many teams and individual racers equipped with DUNLOP won national championship various classes at racing tournaments and other motorsports competitions throughout Japan. This year, we will once again be giving our all when it comes to the development of advanced racing tires so that we may better assist our partner teams and racers along their path to victory.

1. Four-Wheel Motorsports Activities

○DUNLOP

Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT

The SUPER GT Series is widely considered to be the pinnacle of Japanese racing. We will be supporting six vehicles at this year’s SUPER GT, including the new model Modulo CIVIC TYPER-GT in the GT500 Class as well as five cars competing in the GT300 Class. In addition, we will also be supplying tires to support many more racing teams competing for titles in various classes in a wide range of racing categories throughout Japan, including the All Japan Rally Championship, the All Japan Gymkhana Championship, and the All Japan Dirt Trial Championship in addition to our continuing sponsorship of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR86/BRZ Cup.

 

Meanwhile, we will also be working to support the cultivation of young up-and-coming racers by providing one-make tires for entry-level races such as the Formula Regional Japanese Championship, the FIA-F4 Championship and Super FJ Championship, as well as competitions that are open to all comers, including the TCR Japan Series, the VITA RACE, BMW & MINI Racing and more. At the same time, we are also providing one-make tires for the All Japan Karting Championship. In the EV category, this provision will consist of tires with a heightened content of sustainable raw material.

 

○FALKEN

Scene from the Nürburgring 24h Race

In 2023, FALKEN will once again be competing in what is widely considered to be the world’s toughest endurance race: the legendary ADAC TOTAL 24-Hour Race(commonly known as the Nürburgring 24h-Race on account of its venue: the famed Nürburgring Course in Nürburg, Germany). Again this year, Team FALKEN Motorsports will be competing for glory with two Porsche 911 GT3R racecars. At the same time, we will also be supplying our high-performance FALKEN tires to SUBARU TECHNICA INTERNATIONAL they compete in the SP4T Class (Turbocharged vehicles with displacement of 2.0L – less than 2.6L) with a SUBARU WRX NBR CHALLENGE racecar. Through these activities, we aim to further enhance the value of our FALKEN brand, which is already quite popular in Europe and North America.

▷FALKEN official website

2. Two-Wheel Motorsports Activities

○DUNLOP

Scene from the AMA Supercross

In international road racing, we will be supplying tires to two teams (BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team and KM99) competing at the EWC Class of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship.  When it comes to off-road racing, we will be supplying tires to three teams in the Motocross World Championship: Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, Standing Construct Honda MXGP, and Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing. AMA Supercross / Pro Motocross, all-America championships for which our teams hold the record of victory in all classes in 14 consecutive years, we are taking aim at increasing this to 15 years in all classes.

In domestic road racing, we will be supporting the DUNLOP Racing Team with YAHAGI in the JSB1000 Class of the All Japan Road Race Championship. While developing high-performance racing tires that are trusted by riders in road races in the top category, we will be providing one-make tires for the ST1000 class of the All Japan Road Race Championship, the JP250 class of the MFJ CUP / Regional Championships, the CBR250RR Dream Cup, and the HRC GROM CUP. We will also be supplying one-make tires for the HRC NSF250R Challenge and other such races whose purpose is to develop riders, as part of our efforts to prepare an environment to bring up riders from Japan who can compete internationally. In the area of off-road racing, we will be shooting for titles in tournaments such as the All Japan Motocross Championship and the All Japan Trials Championship, in which we took the crown last year.

■2024 DUNLOP Four-Wheel Motorsports Activity Plan Overview

SUPER GT

Class	Team	Vehicle	Drivers
GT500	Modulo Nakajima Racing	Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT	Takuya Izawa
			Riki Okusa
GT300	GAINER	NISSAN FAIRLADY Z GT300 GT	Ryuichiro Tomita
			Keishi Ishikawa
	D’station Racing	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 evo	Tomonobu Fujii
			Marco Sørensen
	LM corsa	TOYOTA GR Supra GT	Hiroki Yoshimoto
			Shunsuke Kohno
	R&D SPORT	SUBARU BRZ GT300	Takuto Iguchi
			Hideki Yamauchi
	K-tunes Racing	LEXUS RC F GT3	Morio Nitta
			Shinichi Takagi

 

All Japan Rally Championship
 

Class	Team	Vehicle	Driver
JN-1	LUCK with ROOKIE Racing Rally Team	TOYOTA GR YARIS Rally2	Norihiko Katsuta
	WinmaX RALLY TEAM	SUBARU WRX	Takuma Kamada

 

All Japan Gymkhana Championship

Class	Team	Vehicle	Driver
BC3	T.ASSIST	TOYOTA GR YARIS	Shigeki Kayano
BC1	Okinawa Exciting Motor Sports Club	SUZUKI SWIFT	Jun Takae
PN4	TEAM URGENT	TOYOTA GR YARIS	Shinji Tsugawa
PN3	Kanetsu Sports Club	MAZDA ROADSTER	Takahiro Nojima
PN3	Obelisk Racing Team	MAZDA ROADSTER	Tadashi Kawakita
PN1	TEAM ETOILE	TOYOTA YARIS	Takashi Asayama

 

All Japan Dirt Trial Championship

Class	Vehicle	Driver
D	MITSUBISHI MIRAGE	Yuya Sumiyama
	SUBARU BRZ	Takuma Kamada
SA2	TOYOTA GR YARIS	Kazuhiro Kitamura

 

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR86/BRZ Cup

Class	Team	Vehicle	Driver
Professional	OTG Motor Sports	TOYOTA GR86	Togo Suganami
		TOYOTA GR86	Ryo Ogawa
		TOYOTA GR86	Naoki Hattori
		TOYOTA GR86	Remei Ito
	DELTA MOTOR SPORTS	TOYOTA GR86	Yusuke Tomibayashi
	RECARO RACING TEAM	SUBARU BRZ	Takashi Kogure
		SUBARU BRZ	Tsubasa Kondo
		SUBARU BRZ	Kota Sasaki

 

FIA-F4 Japanese Challenge

Team	Driver
OTG Motor Sports	Kenta Kumagai

 

One-Make Tire Racing Category

Race

Formula Regional Japanese Championship

FIA-F4 Championship

Formula Beat

Super FJ Championship

TCR JAPAN SERIES

VITA RACE

BMW & MINI Racing

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR86/BRZ Cup Clubman Series

All Japan Karting Championship / Junior Karting Championship

 

■ 2024 FALKEN Four-Wheel Motorsports Activity Plan Overview

Nürburgring 24h-Race

Class	Team	Vehicle	Drivers
SP9(FIA-GT3)	FALKEN Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3R (#33) Porsche 911 GT3R (#44)	TBN
SP4T	SUBARU TECNICA INTERNATIONAL	SUBARU WRX NBR CHALLENGE	Carlo van Dam
			Tim Schrick
			Kota Sasaki
			Rintaro Kubo

 

■ 2024 DUNLOP Two-Wheel Motorsports Activity Plan Overview

【Road Racing World Championships】

FIM Grand Prix World Championship

Class	Team	Vehicle	Riders
EWC	BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM	BMW	Markus Reiterberger
			Illya Mykhalchyk
			Sylvain Guintoli
	KM99	YAMAHA	Jeremy Guarnoni
			Florian Marino
			Randy de Puniet

 

[Off-Road Racing World Championships]

Motocross World Championship

Class	Team	Vehicle	Riders
MXGP	Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP	KAWASAKI	Romain Febvre
			Jeremy Seewer
	Standing Construct Honda MXGP	HONDA	Pauls Jonass
			Alberto Forato
	Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing	HUSQVARNA	Mattia Guadagnini
MX2	Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing	HUSQVARNA	Kay De Wolf
			Lucas Coenen

 

[International Road Racing World Tournaments]

One-Make Tires Racing Category

Race	Class
FIM Asia Road Racing Championship	ASB1000 / SS600 / AP250 / UB150
Latin America Talent Cup	Moto3

 

[National Road Racing Tournaments]

All Japan Road Race Championship (Japan)

Class	Team	Vehicle	Rider
JSB 1000	DUNLOP Racing Team with YAHAGI	HONDA	Tetsuta Nagashima
	TONE RT SYNCEDGE4413 BMW	BMW	Tomoya Hoshino
	RSN	YAMAHA	Shinichi Nakatomi
	Taira Promote Racing	YAMAHA	Yoshimasa Shibata
J-GP3	Team P.MU 7C	HONDA	Hiroki Ono

 

One-Make Tires Racing Category

Race	Class	Country
MOTO AMERICA	SBK / ST1000 / SS600 / Twins Cup / Junior Cup	USA
GP Colombia Championship	GP3 / 150cc	Columbia
SBK National Championship	SBK / SS600 / GP3 / GP2	Chile
All Japan Road Race Championship	ST1000	Japan
MFJ CUP / Regional Championship	JP250	Japan
HRC NSF250R Challenge	J-GP3	Japan
NSF100 HRC Trophy	Junior Championship Classe	Japan
CBR250R Dream Cup	-	Japan
CBR250RR Dream Cup	-	Japan
HRC GROM Cup	-	Japan
Dunlop AUTOBY Cup Gymkhana	Class A / Class B / Class C1 / Class C2	Japan

 

[National Off-Road Racing Tournaments]

AMA Supercross (USA)

Class	Team	Vehicle	Riders
450SX	Red Bull KTM	KTM	Chase Sexton
			Aaron Plessinger
	Honda HRC	HONDA	Jett Lawrence
			Hunter Lawrence
	Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing	YAMAHA	Eli Tomac
			Cooper Webb
			Justin Cooper
	Monster Energy Kawasaki	KAWASAKI	Jason Anderson
			Adam Cianciarulo
	Progressive ECSTAR Suzuki	SUZUKI	Ken Roczen
	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	HUSQVARNA	Christian Craig
			Malcolm Stewart
	Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GASGAS	GASGAS	Justin Barcia
250SX WEST	Red Bull KTM	KTM	Julien Beaumer
	Honda HRC	HONDA	Jo Shimoda
	Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing	YAMAHA	Jordon Smith
			Nate Thrasher
	Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki	KAWASAKI	Levi Kitchen
			Maximus Vohland
	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	HUSQVARNA	RJ Hampshire
	Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GASGAS	GASGAS	Ryder DiFrancesco
250SX EAST	Red Bull KTM	KTM	Tom Vialle
	Honda HRC	HONDA	Chance Hymas
	Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing	YAMAHA	Haiden Deegan
			Daxton Bennick
			Nicholas Romano
	Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki	KAWASAKI	Austin Forkner
			Cameron Mcadoo
			Seth Hammaker
	Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing	HUSQVARNA	Guillem Farres
	Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GASGAS	GASGAS	Pierce Brown

 

All Japan Motocross Championship (Japan)

Class	Team	Vehicle	Riders
IA1	YAMAHA FACTORY INNOVATION TEAM	YAMAHA	Jay Wilson
			Yusuke Watanabe
	Team Kawasaki R&D	KAWASAKI	Chihiro Notsuka
	Honda Dream Racing LG	HONDA	Haruki Yokoyama
	TEAM HAMMER	HONDA	Makoto Ogata
	Auto Brothers	GASGAS	Victor Alonso

 

All Japan Trials Championship (Japan)

Class	Team	Vehicle	Rider
IAS	TEAM MITANI Honda	HONDA	Tomoyuki Ogawa
	YAMAHA FACTORY RACING TEAM	YAMAHA	Kenichi Kuroyama
	bLU cRU VICTORY	YAMAHA	Seiya Ujikawa
	Team NOZAKI YAMALUBE YAMAHA	YAMAHA	Fumitaka Nozaki

 

Japan Enduro Championship (Japan)

Class	Team	Vehicle	Rider
IA	BIVOUAC OSAKA with RG3 Racing	GASGAS	Yoshikazu Hosaka

* Activities above are current plans. Please note that they are subject to change.