Fire Ando Sets Record Lap Time At TC2000! New Tuning Car Record!

On Friday, January 27th, on his second session on track, Yoshiki ’Fire’ Ando broke the 50-second barrier at Tsukuba Circuit with a record second lap time set on Advan 295/35/18 A050 GS - the first ever tuning car to do so. A truly incredible moment for motorsport enthusiasts world wide and a massive breakthrough in Japanese time attack. It was just a few months ago that, after Ando had taken the record at Motegi, we had finished writing an in-depth recap of Team Escort’s campaign of taking every international circuit record in Japan.  Remaining on that list was Hokkaido’s Tokachi International Speedway full course, and of course the goal of breaking the 50 second barrier at Tsukuba’s TC2000.  Although not an international circuit, TC2000 has always been considered the home of time attack, and as of the past decade, the sub-50 lap has been observed as a goal of the elite. When we last spoke to the head of Escort, Shiobara, we were in the engine room of Escort’s fir