Dunlop’s two cars dominated proceedings at the Silverstone round of the FIA World Endurance Championship this weekend. G-Drive Racing qualified on LMP2 pole position with Dunlop’s second car of KCMG close behind. The fastest qualifying lap was one and a half seconds faster than that of Dunlop rivals and the pace continued throughout the weekend.

The two teams raced on all tyres possible with the conditions changing throughout the six-hour race and the pair were the only class leaders throughout the battle. Initially G-Drive racing led in the Morgan-Nissan but a prolonged pit-stop to replace bodywork because of lights not working dropped them behind the KCMG Oreca 03-Nissan. A safety car period mid-race reduced the gap between the pair which, combined with a stop-and-go drive-through penalty for KCMG handed the lead back to G-Drive who then pulled a gap of one lap at the end of the race which was shortened by 25 minutes due to heavy rain. The two rival LMP2 cars were never in contention having not achieved the pace of the Dunlop cars, and suffering from issues which put one car nine-laps behind G-Drive and led to the retirement of the other.

Roman Rusinov, G-Drive Racing:
“I was pushed hard on slicks in the wet. It was difficult for sure. At the end of the day the car was good and we did a good job for the team. The pace was good but even in the difficult conditions [on slick tyres in wet conditions] it was great to drive and I could catch up on the leader. It is the perfect start to the championship.”

Mike McGregor, Dunlop Motorsport:
“Our teams used every possible tyre today. We used both compounds of slick, triple stinting the medium compound with the intermediates coming into their own. It paid off having worked on improving water clearance for both the intermediate and the wet options over the winter. Our pace was beyond question today with times in the wet equalling the petrol LMP1 car. We were also over a second a lap faster than the non-Dunlop runners. As Roman said, this is a great start to the season.”