After a thrilling first round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) which saw Jackie Chan DC Racing take LMP2 honours and Aston Martin Racing take its first podium of 2017, 16 Dunlop-shod cars will take to the track for round two in Belgium this Saturday.
While Dunlop tyres evolve and improve year-on-year, Spa’s micro-climate persists, with teams needing to prepare for anything from a heatwave to cold monsoon conditions. The ultimate example of extreme conditions prevailed in 2003 when Dunlop-shod Freisinger Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3-RS N-GT class took the outright win in the Spa 24 Hours, the only lower class win in the history of the FIA GT championship.
The 6 Hours of Spa is the teams’ final race opportunity to prepare for the all-important Le Mans 24 Hours in addition to the bids for points towards teams’ championship standings.
In addition to the cars seen at Silverstone for the last round, 2016 Spa winner Signatech Alpine are fielding a second car. Also European Le Mans and Le Mans 24 Hours contenders Tockwith Motorsports will compete with their Ligier bringing variety in an otherwise all Oreca-chassis class. All eleven LMP2 teams have chosen to compete on Dunlop tyres. In the GT classes, three Aston Martin Vantages and two Porsche 911 RSRs have also elected to race on Dunlop’s tyre options.
In the LMP2 and both GT classes, Dunlop competitors will have the medium and medium-plus compounds available in addition to the intermediate and full wet weather options.
Paul Bryant, International Event Manager, Dunlop Motorsport
“Spa has always been one of the most unpredictable events of the year. We have been able to analyse the data from the Silverstone race and can work with our teams to improve the performance of the car and tyre packages. That’s particularly valuable in LMP2 where, due to the newness of the cars, our pre-season knowledge is limited.”
The 6 Hours of Spa round of the FIA World Endurance Championship starts at 14.30 CET on Saturday 6th May.
