Intercontinental Rally Challenge attracted much attention from Japanese rally fans last year because Yokohama joined the series in collaboration with Subaru, using the ADVAN rally tires and Subaru WRX STI R4. Being founded in 2007, the series might not have a long history, but it has been favored by a wide variety of participants, from the world class drivers to local amateurs, as its calendar includes some of traditional and prestigious European events with long histories, and also because of relatively low cost for competitors and good media coverage.

Most of the main contenders in IRC use S2000 or Group R cars. The former is powered by normally aspirated 2000cc engine and a wider range of modification than that of Group N car is allowed. In addition, the organizers made a decision for the 2012 season that the new generation S2000 cars with 1600cc turbo charged engines are also eligible for the championship points, provided that the car's manufacturer applies registration for the series and a 30mm intake air restrictor is installed to the car's engine. This decision certainly brings an upbeat vision because the series can expect more participants to join by accepting more types of cars.

On the other hand, Group R cars are basically the same with existing Group N cars but some extra modifications are allowed in the areas of weight reduction, cooling and suspension. By installing a modification kit to a Group N car, the privateers will get a competitive car at relatively low cost. But, depending on the types of roads, some of Group R cars are already fast enough to give the top S2000 competitors a run for their money.

Subaru WRC STI R4 belongs to this class. Last year, Toshihiro Arai and Fumio Nutahara took part in the selected events with this type of Subaru and Arai claimed the Production Cup title for which the drivers of the cars other than S2000 class are eligible.

The 2012 calendar consists of 13 rounds mostly within the European continent, two more than the last year's championship. Although the majority of events are tarmac rallies, it still has three gravel events plus one mixed surface rally which has both tarmac and gravel stages. Among those non-tarmac events, Cyprus Rally is especially famous for its very harsh surfaces covered with sharp-edged rocks. And four events in the calendar - Ireland, San Marino, Romania and Bulgaria - are new to the series, so it will be interesting to watch how the regular IRC competitors will tackle these new additions.

All 13 rounds are televised by Eurosport, the company that also plays the role of series promoter, and the powerful footage of competition cars, plus the on-board videos or interviews with team crews, are distributed to the rally fan's homes around the world. For the fans who want to follow the events in real time, some of the event official web sites provide the tracking data of competitors and live coverage by Rally Radio are also available via the internet.

For the battles in IRC, Yokohama employs ADVAN A006T for tarmac surfaces and ADVAN A053 for gravel.

ADVAN A006T has been significantly improved through the last season in IRC and contributed to the Arai's good performance in the Hungarian round last year. It was remarkable that he clocked some impressive stage times, which was comparable to those of the leading local drivers, in the high speed rally in which the average speed sometimes exceeded 130kph.

ADVAN A053 has also performed well, as this type already has an established reputation in other battle fields such as the Production car World Rally Championship or the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. The consistency of the tires helped Arai very much to secure the Production Cup title in the Scottish round in 2011.

Both types' designs accept the extra grooves by hand cutting to adapt to the surface conditions, as it is essential in the international rally events. During 2011 IRC season, the hand-cut grooved tires were occasionally used, especially for wet surfaces, which worked really well to exploit the tire's performance under the difficult conditions.

Yokohama continues to participate in the IRC series in 2012. Look out for the Arai's fight for his second consecutive Production Cup title and further evolution of the ADVAN rally tires which keep on running in the rallying field all over the world.