Six Dunlop championships in one weekend

Six major motorsport championship titles were won this weekend in cars fitted with Dunlop tyres. In the penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca, California, another podium finish for Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller in BMW’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing Team Dunlop equipped BMW M3 GT meant the drivers, team and tyre manufacturer achieved their championship ambitions with one race still to run this season.

In the LMP1 class for prototype cars, British driver Guy Smith and his Dyson Racing team both clinched their respective championship titles, and Dunlop were crowned as Champion Tyre Manufacturer.

On two wheels, Jesco Guenther won the highly competitive IDM German Supersport Championship riding his Dunlop-shod Vector Racing Team Yamaha at the Hockenheimring.

These car and motorcycle successes are significant for Dunlop. The IDM championship and American Le Mans series are two championships where all the tyre manufacturers are permitted to compete, unlike most major international championships such as Formula 1 or MotoGP which require all competitors to use the same brand of tyre. Therefore, they represent the ultimate challenge in tyre research and development.

Jean-Felix Bazelin, General Manager, Dunlop Motorsport, stated: “To win in championships where all of our major competitors are represented is testimony to the knowledge, craftsmanship and technology that goes into every Dunlop tyre. These incredible results were driven by a true team effort and strong development partnerships with our winning teams, illustrated by Dunlop and BMW building on our past success and learnings to achieve even greater results in the most competitive GT championship in the world.”