Dunlop Celebrates 200th Consecutive 250cc MotoGP Win

On September 28 Dunlop reached a milestone worthy of celebrating – its 200th consecutive MotoGP 250cc Grand Prix victory. As the checkered flag greeted Marco Simoncelli across the line at the Motegi circuit in Japan, it marked an historic event in motorcycle racing that began with Max Biaggi’s Japanese 250cc Grand Prix win in 1996.

Since Biaggi’s victory at the Suzuka circuit 12 years ago, every race in this category has been won on Dunlop tyres. Win number 50 came with Valentino Rossi at the 1999 British GP, Marco Melandri scored number 100 at Brno in 2002, whilst Casey Stoner delivered the 150th in Malaysia in 2005. In all, thirty-three riders and five constructors have enabled Dunlop to reach its double century.

“We are delighted to celebrate this historic victory”, said Sanjay Khanna, managing director Motorcycle Tires Dunlop Europe. “Racing is very important to us. The technology transfer between race and road helps us to develop road tyres with superlative characteristics both with regards to safety and performance.”

The 250cc class is an important one to the sport – indeed, 12 of the 18 current 2008 MotoGP riders are previous 250cc Dunlop winners. “We thank the teams for putting their trust in our tyres, a trust that clearly pays off,” said Jeremy Ferguson, manager International Motorsport for Dunlop “The agility and aggression of the 250cc bikes with their very high cornering speeds with lean angles reaching 60 degrees make them ideal machines for tire development – helped too by the level of ability of the top riders and the technical expertise of the bike manufacturers.

“Even though currently none of our competitors are challenging us in 250cc, Dunlop still continues to continually improve the tyres,” Ferguson added. “In 2008 we have already evaluated more than 50 new construction and compound variants and introduced the latest multi-compound technology for both front and rear tyres.

“I’d like to thank everybody that has been involved in Dunlop Motorsport for not only the last ten years, but the last forty. These people, and everybody who has worked with us. We look forward to working with them again in the future,” concluded Ferguson.