Press Release

Osaka, Japan- January 23, 2009- TOYO TIRE & RUBBER Co., LTD. (President and CEO : Kenji Nakakura) hereby announces that it provided its off-road tire supports for 2 open-class teams, "Team Dakar USA" in the Dakar Rally 2009, held in Chile, Argentina (Refer to the Press Release No. 1047) and Robby Gordon took 3rd place overall suppressing other great drivers and won 1st prize in the open class.

Gordon's team equipped with Toyo Open Country M/T-R tires rose gradually and met with an accident of going off the proper route in the 8th stage. However, after his great run it moved up to 3rd place of stage 12. He finished excellently, living through a mechanic accident in the 13 stage. The team of Eric Vigouroux was also successful and took 13th place overall in the race and his further success is expected.

177 cars participated in four-wheel class and 90 cars completed the full distance. The race distance was shortened due to bad condition of the course. The Dakar rally, called "the toughest race in the world", was high-level race this year.

Through this most challenging off-road race, TOYO TIRES demonstrated that the technologies and capabilities of its off-road race tires are some of the best in the world.

Toyo Tire & Rubber will continue to support race teams, aiming to further improve our technologies and establish the Toyo Tires brand image for the future.