The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) races at the Italian track at Imola, north-central Italy, on 18th May. Dunlop provides tyres for the premier class, LMP2, with seven of the ten entries opting to use Dunlop rubber. At the Silverstone round in April Dunlop entries claimed pole position, won the race and finished in all of the top-six places.

Dunlop nominates two dry-weather compounds for each event and with the Imola track having a low-grip surface, the new soft compound tyre will make its first race appearance. In addition to the new construction and a new rear profile, the soft tyre is a step softer than in 2013 which gives added grip but retains durability. This tyre could be key to Le Mans success so Imola is a good opportunity for the ELMS teams that will compete in the 24 hour race in June to gain experience with the soft option. The second dry option tyre is the medium compound that has already contributed to victories at Silverstone and at Spa in endurance racing this year.

Dunlop Teams

29 Pegasus Racing, Morgan Nissan: Julien Schnell, Niki Leutwiller, Jonathan Coleman
34 Race Performance, Oreca 03 Judd: Michel Frey, Franck Mailleux
38 Jota Sport, Zytek Z11SN Nissan: Simon Dolan, Harry Ticknell, Filipe Albuquerque
41 Greaves Motorsport, Zytek Z11SN Nissan: Tom Kimber-Smith, Chris Dyson, Chris McMurry
43 Newblood By Morand Racing, Morgan Judd: Christian Klien, Gary Hirsch, Romain Brandela
46 Thiriet by TDS Racing, Morgan Nissan: Pierre Thiriet, Ludovic Badey, Tristan Gommendy
48 Murphy Prototypes, Oreca 03 Nissan: Rodolfo Gonzalez, Alex Kapadia, Karun Chandhok

Racing Stat – Double Stinting Was Jota’s Way Forward

ELMS regulars Jota Sport raced at the WEC Spa-Francorchamps event two weeks ago where Dunlop teams used 25% fewer tyres than in 2013. Although restrictions necessitate some double stinting, Jota and others were faster with double stints than with new tyres at each fuel stop due to the development of the tyres to minimize drop-off in lap times.

In addition, the predicatability of the 2014 Dunlop tyres is helping silver graded drivers. At Spa, Jota’s Simon Dolan was 0.4 seconds faster in average in 2014 than in 2013. That is a gain of 16 sec over the 2 stints.

Mike McGregor, Dunlop Engineer:
“Imola is a great circuit for us to get race experience with our ELMS teams using the new soft compound tyre in preparation for Le Mans but of course our objective for the weekend is to get the best performance for each team at this track and to win. We set standards high with the performance at Silverstone so we will be doing our best to repeat that in Italy. Our simulations and testing indicate that if the conditions suit the soft option our teams should have good tyres for very competitive racing. If the temperatures rise too much then the best option will be the medium compound that served very well at Silverstone and in Spa for the WEC.”