Silverstone in the UK hosts the opening rounds of both the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with races on 11th and 12th April. Dunlop teams have been boosted in numbers by the addition of the one-brand LMGTE and GTC classes in ELMS.

Following Dunlop’s performance in 2014, including top three class positions at the Le Mans 24h , the number of LMP2 teams choosing Dunlop tyres has also increased with a total of 31 cars across  both series taking to the Northamptonshire track this weekend. In LMP2, Dunlop tyres will be used on six different chassis. In the GT classes, five different manufacturers (Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Aston Martin and Lamborghini) will compete on the new Dunlop Sport Maxx GT tyres.

While regulations have essentially remained the same, Dunlop has evolved the tyre range to provide teams with better performance, including a step forward in tyre durability and a wider, more versatile operating range for each specification of tyre, which will help the teams when planning their race strategies.

2015 Tyres

2015 GT Tyre Range
(GTC – dry/wet restricted to 18 dry tyres LMGTE – medium/hard/wet)
Since the announcement of Dunlop winning the contract to supply the two GT classes, Dunlop engineers have focussed on designing the new 2015 range of Dunlop Sport Maxx GT racing tyres. The Nürburgring 24 Hour race and VLN racing has provided an ideal GT tyre development environment over many years, with partner teams including AMG and BMW, assisting with Dunlop’s programme through that time. Extensive design work and rolling road testing at a specialist facility helped with advancing the GT specification before a tyre was ever fitted to a car. The final options were tested at several different circuits before confirming the 2015 specification in February.

Key to the new 2015 specification of GT tyre for the ELMS are construction development and manufacturing process changes. Engineers have significantly improved the performance of the tyre while also improving durability.

2015 LMP2 Tyre Range
(soft/medium/medium+/intermediate/wet)
The LMP2 tyre design has been refined using construction modelling to more efficiently position the materials to improve mid-corner grip. The new compound for the hard tyre increases durability with the new intermediate tyre compound improving grip while an amended tread pattern is able to more efficiently evacuate water. The intermediate tyre for 2015 is also able to operate further into full wet conditions without sacrificing performance on drying tracks. The full wet tyre has a new construction which will improve grip and driver feedback.

Mike McGregor, Senior Engineer, Dunlop
“This has been one of our busiest off-seasons in a very long time with a huge effort to produce improvements across the LMP2 and GT ranges. The biggest leaps in performance and durability are probably the LMP2 intermediate tyre which has had really good feedback in testing and the GT tyre which is a major step forward for us.

“The official tests at Paul Ricard circuit two weeks ago gave us more information and we are working as close as ever with our teams. We are also providing more data to our GT teams in particular who are new to the 2015 tyres to make sure that we help them get the best set-ups for their cars at each track as quickly as possible.”

ELMS Dunlop Competitors

LMP2
33 Eurasia Motorsport, Oreca 03R-Nissan
38 Jota Sport, Gibson 015S-Nissan
41 Greaves Motorsport ,Gibson 015S-Nissan
44 Ibanez Racing, Oreca 03R-Nissan
45 Ibanez Racing, Oreca 03R-Nissan
46 Thiriet By TDS Racing, Oreca 05
48 Murphy Prototypes, Oreca 03R-Nissan

LMGTE
51 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia
52 BMW Sports Trophy MarcVDS, BMW Z4
55 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia
56 AT Racing, Ferrari F458 Italia
60 Formula Racing, Ferrari F458 Italia
66 JMW Motorsport, Ferrari F458 Italia
81 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia
86 Gulf Racing UK, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
88 Proton Competition, Porsche 911 RSR

GTC
59 TDS Racing, BMW Z4 GT3
62 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia
63 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia
64 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia
68 Massive Motorsport, Aston Martin Vantage GT3
85 Gulf Racing UK, Lamborghini Gallardo

WEC Dunlop Competitors
LMP2
26 G Drive Racing, Ligier JS P2-Nissan
28 G Drive Racing, Ligier JS P2-Nissan
30 Extreme Speed Motorsports, HPD ARX -Honda
31 Extreme Speed Motorsports, HPD ARX -Honda
35 Oak Racing, Ligier JS P2-Nissan
36 Signatech Alpine, Alpine A450B-Nissan
39 Team Sard Morand, Morgan Evo-SARD
43 Team Sard Morand, Morgan Evo-SARD
47 KCMG, Oreca 05-Nissan

The European Le Mans Series Silverstone 4 Hours starts at 2.30pm local time on Saturday 11th April.
The 6 Hours of Silverstone round of the FIA World Endurance Championship starts at noon on Sunday 12th April.