Dunlop’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) teams have had a long wait following some strong performances at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June where KCMG’s Oreca-Nissan took LMP2 victory in the double points event, also taking the lead in the LMP2 standings. After an 11-week gap, round four of the series takes place on 30th August in Germany at the Nürburgring Grand Prix track in the Eifel mountains.

Despite the Nürburgring making its first appearance on the modern-day WEC calendar, Dunlop teams had the opportunity to test at the track in July where Strakka Racing topped the times on their first outing with their new Gibson car.

The Nürburgring is a venue with a great Dunlop legacy. With The adjoining Nordschleife provides the ultimate racing and testing conditions with varied surfaces and ever-changing weather. The Nürburgring 24 Hour race has been won 17 times on Dunlop tyres since 1970 in an event where more tyre manufacturers compete than any other. The circuit is close to Dunlop’s Hanau facility where engineers work closely with development partner AMG and provide support for the VLN endurance championship which feature ten races each season on the Nordschleife. Dunlop’s work with AMG has included creating tyres for the fastest ever fully electric lap of the Nürburgring.

From the 2015 LMP2 range, Dunlop has nominated the Soft and Medium options for the Nürburgring WEC event.

Mike McGregor, Manager Testing & Track Support, Race Design & Development : “Dunlop has very strong links with the Nürburgring in endurance racing so despite being a new circuit on the WEC calendar we are well prepared. The track is medium energy with no strong bias on front, rear, left or right and the soft and medium options will give the teams plenty of scope for different pit-stop strategies after seeing them both quadruple stint at Le Mans. We hope to see exciting racing given the closeness of KCMG and G-Drive Racing at the top of the table but, as always in endurance racing, anything can happen with plenty of points available before the end of the year.”

The 6 Hours of Nürburgring starts on 30th August at 13:00 local time (CEST).

LMP2 Standings (All choose Dunlop tyres)

1: 47, KCMG, Oreca 05-Nissan (HKG) 78 points
2: 25, G-Drive Racing, Ligier JS P2-Nissan (RUS) 74
3: 26, G-Drive Racing, Ligier JS P2-Nissan (RUS) 64
4: 31, Extreme Speed Motorsports, HPD ARX -Honda (USA) 38
5: 35, Oak Racing Ligier, JS P2-Nissan (FRA) 34
6: 42, Strakka Racing, Gibson 015S-Nissan (GBR) 25
7: 30, Extreme Speed Motorsports, HPD ARX -Honda (USA) 24
8: 43, Team Sard Morand, Morgan Evo-SARD (CHE) 18
9: 36, Signatech Alpine, Alpine A450B-Nissan (FRA) 12

2015 LMP2 Tyre Range (soft/medium/medium+/intermediate/wet)

2015 Tyre Improvements

• More efficient material positions to improve mid-corner grip
• New hard compound increases durability
• New intermediate compound improves grip
• New intermediate tread pattern more efficient in water evacuation
• Operating window for intermediate tyre extended further into wet conditions
• New wet tyre construction improves grip and driver feedback