Just three weeks after the opening round at Silverstone, the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) teams are heading to the Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps for another six-hour race. Ten LMP2 teams have chosen to compete on Dunlop tyres, with the eight round one contenders joined by the Gulf Racing Middle East Lola and Silverstone European Le Mans Series winners Jota with its Zytek.

Dunlop is allocating its soft and medium compound dry tyres for the event in addition to the intermediate and full wet options. The Dunlop wet tyre has a full pattern of grooves that provide 40% water clearance with a compound that is designed to work at lower temperatures, while the intermediate tyre offers a degree of water clearance via minimal grooves and works well from completely dry to all but standing water conditions.

Silverstone’s weather proved a major challenge for the teams with the Dunlop wet and intermediate tyres proving key to coping with the conditions for the LMP2 runners. Spa is notorious for its unpredictable weather conditions with drivers potentially facing wet, damp and dry track on a single lap.

The race takes place on Saturday 4th May.

David Meenan, Senior Design Engineer : “We have introduced the soft compound as an option at Spa because we know that the track is easier on the compound compared to Silverstone where tyre wear is biased to the left side.

“Our wet tyre is designed specifically for medium to high levels of water which worked so well at Silverstone where the winning Dunlop Jota was consistently quicker than our competitor’s car. Race Winner Oliver Turvey reporting that he got good grip from the start of his stint and as rain began to fall more heavily he could feel the tyres giving the grip he needed.

“For mildly moist to all but standing water the intermediate tyre we have created is a good option, especially at tracks such as Spa, with its ability to be quicker over a stint because of its wide operating window. The Silverstone WEC winning Delta-ADR Oreca made a strategic call at the right moment to run on the intermediates and stayed ahead because they didn’t have to stop to change tyres. Most of the Dunlop teams used the intermediate for qualifying as well, with the time for the LMP2 pole being seven seconds faster than the fastest non-Dunlop car.”

Source : Dunlop