Dunlop Motorsports stepping up WEC game

BIRMINGHAM, England (March 22, 2016) — Dunlop Motorsports is expanding its endurance racing program this year, returning to the top tier of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and landing a prestigious factory partnership in the GT category.

Dunlop disclosed in the past several weeks that two top WEC non-factory “privateer” teams — Rebellion Racing and ByKolles Racing Team  — have opted for the tire maker's newly developed LMP1 category tires, which draw on Dunlop's successful run in the LMP2 the past few years.

The decision marks a return to the top endurance category after a three-year absence. In the interim, Dunlop Motorsports — a unit of Goodyear — has concentrated on the LMP2 category, where teams running on Dunlop have won the class at the Le Mans 24 enduro the last five years.

The Swiss Rebellion Racing team has been the top non-manufacturer team in the WEC the past four years, winning the FIA WEC Endurance Trophy for Privateer LMP1 Teams.

Rebellion plans to campaign a pair of its in-house designed, twin-turbo AER-powered R-One LMP1-L car in the 2016 WEC. Addressing the tire issue,

Team Manager Bart Hayden noted Dunlop's success in LMP2 and said, “…we hope that this partnership will further improve the competitiveness of the Rebellion R-One LMP1 car.”

Rebellion Racing opted to go with Dunlop this year after an “intensive comparative tire test,” according to Xavier Fraipont, managing director, Dunlop Motorsport Europe.

Greding, Germany-based ByKolles will run a single-car team, fielding its CLM P1/01. The team hopes to build on its run of five consecutive podium places in WEC last year.

In the GT arena, Aston Martin Racing and Dunlop have formed a technical partnership, which will put the team's Vantage GTE cars on Dunlop race tires for the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship. The pact will extend to other racing series as well, Aston Martin said, such as the Nurburgring 24-hour enduro where Dunlop will supply the team's GT3-spec V12 Vantages.

Explaining the team's switch to Dunlop, Dan Sayers, technical director of Aston Martin Racing, said, “The team is thoroughly confident heading into this season and I firmly believe that the Dunlop Sport Maxx is the perfect tire to help us achieve the results we desire.”

Mr. Fraipont echoed Mr. Sayers' comments, saying, “We share the same goals and objectives as Aston Martin Racing, and we are looking forward to working extremely closely with the team to achieve success together.”

Dunlop Motorsport tires are developed and engineered by a multinational team of associates based in Hanau, Germany; and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg; and Birmingham, England; and produced in Hanau.

At the same time, Dunlop has agreed to support a revived racing series in the United Kingdom, the Britcar Endurance package, including the Dunlop Endurance and Dunlop Production Championships along with a newly conceived “Dunlop Prototype Series” covering four classes endurance prototype chassis.

The new management arrangement, in the form of Hedley Cowell Events Ltd. — owned by Claire Hedley, head of Britcar's operations for 13 seasons — has taken over management of the Britcar series, which has been a staple of British motorsports for years.

Britcar has scheduled five races this year for the prototype series — including two circuits used by the WEC, Silverstone GP Spa Francorchamps in Belgium — as a prelude to organizing six to eight events in 2017. Four of the 2016 races will be one-hour events, plus one two-hour race.

Cars will be categorized in one of four classes based on relative performance.

James Bailey, PR and communications director for Dunlop Motorsport EMEA, said, “British motorsport is very important to us and we hope to be able to keep the spirit alive for this sport through our strong partnerships with championships like the Dunlop Endurance Championship. We will support the championships with marketing initiatives and products from our successful portfolio and hope to see a thriving grid for the 2016 season.”