Yokohama named title sponsor of 2018 Sonora Rally

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Yokohama Tire Corp. will be the title sponsor of the 2018 Yokohama Sonora Rally, a “hardcore off-road rally” scheduled for Mexico's Sonora desert March 19-24.

The 2018 Sonora Rally — the fourth running of the event — is modeled after the Dakar Rally, according to Darren Skilton, Sonora Rally director.

“If you've ever wondered what Dakar is like, the Sonora Rally is designed to give you a taste,” Mr. Skilton said. “That's why we're excited to partner with Yokohama Tire. They have a long history of involvement in off-road events and will bring their passion and expertise to help grow the sport of cross-country rally in North America.”

The 2017 rally raid covered roughly 575 miles of desert terrain over four days of competition.

“The Sonora Rally is quickly becoming one of the premier and challenging off-road rally events in North America,” said Fardad Niknam, Yokohama Tire director of segment development, who called it the perfect event to highlight the tire maker's Geolandar line of off-road tires, especially the Geolandar M/T G003 mud-terrain tire.

Yokohama sponsors a number of off-road races, including the NORRA Mexican 1000, the company said.

It also is the official tire of Horsepower Adventures and the official spec tire of both the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama.