Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. President and CEO Kenji Nakakura reports the company will be the main sponsor for the fourth "Toyo Tires 24 hours of Dubai."
The race started yesterday (Jan. 8) and runs through Saturday at the Dubai Autodrome Circuit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Now entering its fourth year of operation, the Toyo Tires 24 hours of Dubai attracts participants from all over the world and this year will count over 80 drivers from around 30 countries.
This time, some race cars such as Audi R8 of the Audi CR8 Project Team participating from the Netherlands are equipped with Toyo’s Proxes RS1 slick tires. (For more race information, see www.24hdubai.com.)
Toyo utilizes major race sponsorship to raise its brand
recognition and contribute to the growth of motor sports, the company notes. It
also is supporting two off-road race teams entered in the Argentina Chile-Dakar
(better known as Dakar
rally 2009), which started on Jan. 3 and
runs through Sunday, Jan. 18.
Toyo is supporting Team Dakar USA drivers Robby Gordon and Eric Vigouroux. Both teams drive Hummer H3s equipped with Open Country M/T-R off-road tires tuned for the Dakar rally.
Gordon's team won the 2006 Baja 1000 equipped with Toyo Open Country M/T-R tires. The team was also successful in Dakar 2007 and the Central Europe Rally.
The Dakar rally starts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The race will cross over through Chile, then back to Buenos Aires for the finish. The rally is a grand loop and comprises 15 special stages over a total distance of 9,574 km (including 5,652 km of special stages).
