Already, the month of April has served up a feast for endurance racing fans at Silverstone. Following the European Le Mans Series 4 hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours, the Northamptonshire circuit is now preparing for Britain’s longest race of the year – the Dunlop 24 Hours.

After a 2 year absence from the motorsport calendar,  24 Hour racing returns to Silverstone once again with the event being held on the 25 – 26th April, with qualifying and practice on 24th. The Dunlop 24 Hours is run by the Britcar organisation, who also promote the MSA British Endurance Championship.

Open to professional, semi-professional and amateurs, the race attracts teams from around the world. No less than 36 teams will take part in Britain’s biggest race of the year for touring cars, GT’s and 24H specials. Drivers are coming from over than 18 countries to race on the majestic Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.

James Tucker, Managing Director, Britcar, explained the wide appeal of the event: “The event is targeted at being more than a racing event, with planned fairgrounds, live music and many other activities will be on display in the paddock to keep the crowds entertained over the weekend. There will still be plenty of action on the track with the support categories racing all weekend to keep the track nice and busy”

Fans will have the opportunity to get incredibly close to the action with the Pits Walkabout and Grid Walk being open to all ticket holders. The carnival atmosphere will continue through the night with merchandising stalls and an entertainment area including a bouncy castle and racing simulators.

For Dunlop, this event is a major logistical exercise, supplying multiple specifications of tyres to cover the very diverse grid.

Dunlop will supply tyres for competing cars as diverse as Porsche 911 and Aston Martin Vantage GT3s which will battle for victory against pure racing cars such as the Ginetta LMP3, right through the spectrum of cars to cars such as Renault Clios and Seat Leons fighting equally competitive battles for glory in their classes.

Proven Success at Silverstone

The April Silverstone endurance-fest has already proven to be a success for Dunlop. In the European Le Mans Series 4 hr race, Dunlop equipped cars finished first, second and third. In the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship (the only class that featured a ‘tyre war’), Dunlop shod cars finished first and second.

“For Dunlop, April is the thirty-four hours of Silverstone for our engineers and fitters. With success in the 4hrs, 6hrs we are now ready for the big one – the 24 hours! It is an honour to be the Official Tyre Supplier and Title Sponsor of this prestigious race and the Britcar team have done an outstanding job in getting this important event back on the British racing calendar” stated James Bailey, PR and Communications Director at Dunlop Motorsport.