Yokohama have announced that will supply ECO racing tyres to the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2010.

The Japanese manufacturer, appointed by the FIA following a tender as the official tyre supplier for the next three seasons, has developed the ECO racing tyre using a revised mixture of oil and rubber that replaces with low polycyclic aromatic (PCA) the aromatic oil used so far, which will be banned in Europe from 2010.

Orange oil already used by Yokohama in its DNA Earth-1 tyres for passenger cars is also used in the production of the new ECO racing tyres. Orange oil makes the rubber flexible and improves grip, but with reduced environmental effects.

Under a basic policy of asserting world-class strengths in technologies for protecting the environment, as stated in its Medium-Range Management Plan: Grand Design 100, the Yokohama Rubber Group aims to make all its products environmentally sound by 2017.

The development of the ECO racing tyres for WTCC is part of that effort.