Today, the entry lists for the prestigious Le Mans 24h race, European Le Mans Series and FIA World Endurance Championship were revealed.
Included in the announcements were the racing teams’ choice of tyre manufacturer for these endurance events. This year, in the European Le Mans Series an increased percentage of teams (84% v 71% at the start of 2016) in the open competition LMP2 prototype class have nominated Dunlop as their preferred technical partner.
In the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, where Dunlop has been the choice of Le Mans 24h winners for the last six years, the majority of teams (18 of the 23 cars) have also chosen to nominate Dunlop tyres.
In the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGTE classes, Aston Martin Racing, who claimed two 2016 titles (Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen won the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers and the team secured the FIA World Endurance Trophy for GTE Pro Teams), have also chosen Dunlop once again to lead their 2017 defence.
Director of Motorsport Operations, Jean-Felix Bazelin is delighted with the commitment shown by Dunlop’s partners: “To have so many teams nominate Dunlop as their preferred technical partner in these demanding endurance championships is very rewarding. It is testimony to the amount of work that our service, manufacturing and technology teams have put in during the past season and winter testing period. We restarted our testing programme for 2017 the day after the final championship winning race, developing tyres for both GTE and LMP categories. The push to develop and improve has been relentless”
Dunlop have been testing in Sakhir (Bahrain) Sebring (USA) and Paul Ricard (France) since the end of the 2016 season. On latest LMP2 cars, the combination of the new rules and a brand new Dunlop tyre specification has seen lap times that are close to the pace of the highly advanced front running LMP1 cars from just four seasons ago.
Dunlop has 34 wins in the Le Mans 24h race, more than any other tyre company. The first Dunlop Le Mans win was in 1924.
The FIA World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series season begins at Silverstone (UK) on April 15/16th.
