Yokohama Adds New Drivers For 2020 Race Season

Yokohama Tire recently announced they are adding two new drivers to their Race team, Justin Lofton and Levi Shirley. The two may be new to Yokohama but they are definitely not new to racing.

Justin Lofton, based out of Southern California, will take the Yokohama Trophy Truck driver’s seat. Lofton’s racing career initially started in NASCAR, where he took quite a few podium finish spots. He then moved on to the Stadium Super Trucks series and garnered multiple wins, consistently battling with Robby Gordon and Rob MacCachren. More recently, Lofton has won the Overall and Trick Truck class at the Mint 400 three times.

Justin Lofton will be racing his Yokohama sponsored Trophy Truck in the Best In The Desert Race Series

Hailing from Kansas, Levi Shirley will be carrying the Yokohama mantle in the Ultra4 4400 class. As a top competitor in the Ultra4 series, Shirley has taken podium spots at King Of The Hammers as well as the Ultra4 West Coast Series. Topping that, Shirley was awarded the Ultra4 Sportsman of the Year in 2011 and 2014, a huge honor voted on by his fellow drivers in the racing sanction. Shirley is also very well known and respected in the Ultra4 Europe series. He was the first American driver in the series and took three titles in 2014; King of the Mountains in Italy, King of the Valleys in Wales, and King of Portugal.

Levi Shirley will be racing in the 4400 class of the Ultra4 series.

“We welcome Justin and Levi to the Yokohama off-road family. They are top drivers in their class and proven winners,” said Fardad Niknam, Yokohama’s senior director of consumer product planning and product marketing. “We’re excited to have them on our team this season competing on the rugged M/T-Spec R. We have developed race-ready tires for different desert terrains with various platforms, teams, and drivers. We know it’s a tough tire that offers great traction and durability.”

Lofton and Shirley join Pro UTV racers Wayne and Kristen Matlock as Yokohama’s 2020 off-road team. Wayne is a six-time SCORE champion, including the 2019 Pro Turbo UTV title. “Ironwoman” Kristen won the Pro UTV NA class in the 2019 Baja 1000.

Images provided by Yokohama, Justin Lofton Racing, and Levi Shirley Racing.

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About the author

Jake Headlee

Jake's passion started at a young age wrenching on cars with his Dad. Obtaining that glorious driver's license sparked his obsession with grease and horsepower, and the rest is history. Soon, he was a general mechanic and suspension specialist, and currently designs and modifies products for the off-road industry. Jake enjoys rock crawling, desert racing and trail running, and writing in his spare time.
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