Dunlop-shod BMW Crowned American Le Mans Champion

The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team has clinched the 2010 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT Manufacturer and Team Championships, a feat that was helped by Dunlop, which provided the grip for its BMW M3 GT2. The team’s fourth place finish at the final round last week was enough to score the points needed to stay ahead of Ferrari and Porsche in the Manufacturers Championship by a point. Most racing observers considered the GT segment to be the most competitive class in the ALMS during 2010, with teams from BMW, Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette battling it out, and each winning a race this year.

For Bobby Rahal, president of BMW Rahal Letterman Racing, the Dunlop tyres, designed, developed and built in Birmingham, England, played an integral role in the championship achievement: “Winning the ALMS Manufacturer and Team Championships this year is a great testament to the work ethic and the desire to improve that was shown by everyone involved with Dunlop this year. Every time the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team M3s turned a wheel this year, Dunlop was there gathering data and looking for ways to make us better and it paid off with a championship.”

Dunlop has been BMW Rahal Letterman Racing’s tyre provider since the launch of the M3 GT program last year. The tyres must be consistent for long runs, and the Dunlops were praised by the team for its continuing improvement.

This has been a major project for Dunlop’s Motorsport team at its Fort Dunlop site. The pace of development in the ALMS meant that Dunlop produced over 2,000 tyres for the team this year in over 46 different permutations of compound, design and construction.