Press Release

Toyo Tire Corporation (Headquarters: Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture; President & CEO: Takashi Shimizu; hereinafter, “Toyo Tire”) is pleased to announce that Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT of Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body (hereinafter, “TLC”), a rally team of Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture; President: Katsuhiro Matsuo), has won the production car category in the Dakar Rally 2024 held in Saudi Arabia from January 5 to 19, 2024. Toyo Tire supported TLC by providing its pick-up truck and SUV tires, OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R.
 

 (Left: Vehicle equipped with OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R; Right: TLC achieved its 11th consecutive victory)

Since 2021, Toyo Tire has been supporting TLC's participation in the Dakar Rally. Last year, it has renewed its sponsorship agreement with TLC^*1 and announced its continued support for this rally.^*2 By leveraging the technology and experience in off-road racing cultivated together with TLC, Toyo Tire has been developing and providing the OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R tires (with special specifications for Dakar Rally 2024; hereinafter, “Product”) for two Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT (also with special specifications for Dakar Rally 2024). The Product not only offers improved driving performances on rough surfaces such as rocky terrains and deserts, but also uses sustainable materials for 50% of the total weight of the tire to reduce environmental impact.

^{*1 https://www.toyotires.co.jp/press/2023/23070602.html
*2 https://www.toyotires.co.jp/press/2023/23100501.html}

In Dakar Rally 2024, participants started from AlUla in northwest Saudi Arabia and raced to the goal in Yanbu on the west coast via a turnaround point, and competed for the lowest cumulative driving time in the 12 special stages (competitive sections) and the liaison sections (untimed sections) that connect the distances between the special stages. The total distance covered was approximately 8,000 km including long dune stages with steep gradients that are hard on the vehicle and tires. Despite the challenges, both TLC vehicles finished the race with the support of the Product’s outstanding performance on rough terrains. In the production car category, Akira Miura and Mayeul Barbet took first place, while Ronald Basso and Jean Michel Polato took second place to make a one-two finish, giving TLC their 11th consecutive victory in this category.
 

TLC Director Yuji Kakutani commented with delight, “With the difficulty of the competition increasing year by year, we definitely need tires that can maximize vehicle performance. I’m very happy that we were able to achieve our 11th consecutive victory in the production car category with the collaboration of all team members including the Toyo Tire engineers.” Akira Miura, the winning driver of the class, also reflected on the rally, “Dakar Rally 2024 was the toughest course among all the competitions I’ve ever experienced. Despite that, the OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R supported the vehicles with its outstanding performance on rough terrains and gave confidence to the drivers.”

Toyo Tire feeds back the experiences from off-road races held under harsh conditions to the development of pickup truck and SUV tires and to the improvement of product performance. To contribute to the realization of a next-generation mobility society, Toyo Tire will continue to devote itself to strengthening its product/material development and technology, building product and raw material recycling technology, and developing alternative materials for environmentally hazardous substances.

Reference

■ OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R (with special specifications for Dakar Rally 2024)

The Product was developed by updating OPEN COUNTRY M/T-R (with special specifications for Dakar Rally 2023) to become compatible with TLC’s Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT (with special specifications for Dakar Rally 2024) for Dakar Rally 2024. It features a better off-road performance through improved tire structure, shallow grooves, improved puncture resistance, and better acceleration performance through weight reduction.

50% of the total weight is made from sustainable materials in accordance with Toyo Tire’s policy of “realizing a society with sustainable mobility choices.” In addition to using butadiene rubber and styrene-butadiene rubber derived from biomass^*3 and recycled bead wire as with its predecessor, the new model with specification for the Dakar Rally 2024 also include rice husk ash silica, recycled carbon black, vegetable-derived oil, and bio-derived polyester fiber.

^{*3: Derived from renewable resources such as plants}