The third round of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) is the next date on the calendar for Dunlop’s teams, several of whom have recovered from the gruelling Le Mans 24 Hours in mid-June. The Austrian circuit holds the four-hour race on 12th July with 13 GT cars and eight of the LMP2 cars hoping to be wearing the iconic yellow Dunlop caps on the podium.

Just six points separate the top three teams in top-class LMP2 with Thiriet By TDS Racing leading from Greaves Motorsport and Jota Sport. Of the three, Jota was the only Le Mans 24 Hours finisher, taking second in LMP2. Dunlop has nominated the soft and medium tyres for the LMP2 cars, the same options used by Jota en route to second in the epic race.

The Red Bull Ring has potential for track temperatures to be high but circuit itself is one of the lower energy tracks so the soft and medium LMP2 tyres are more than capable of coping with the demands. The tyres’ versatility were seen at Le Mans where both options were quadruple stinted at times by multiple teams, with each tyre running for around 600 kilometres (372 miles). With the Red Bull Ring race likely to cover a distance of under 700km, teams have plenty of strategy options to try to get the edge on the competition.

As with the previous rounds, the GT cars have different aerodynamic and mechanical grip requirements and the LM GTE cars will have the option of the medium and hard compounds. The GTC cars will use the sole 2015 specification permitted under the regulations.

In the series standings, Thiriet By TDS Racing leads in LMP2 having won the last round at Imola while the sister TDS Racing Ferrari leads in GTC following a win at Silverstone. The LM GTE class is led by AT Racing, also with a Ferrari, after winning at the last round in Italy.

Red Bull Ring 2014 Race Fact

Talk about close! The top three (Signatech Alpine, Jota Sport and Race Performance) finished within 19 seconds of each other on track and just 20 seconds between them on total pit-stop times. Every second really does count!

Mike McGregor, Manager Race Support, Design & Development
“Red Bull Ring is a good track for the teams with the low energy tyre demands meaning that they can really push to get more performance from the cars. The GT cars performed well at Imola on the same specifications so having that data should help them get more from the tyre and chassis combinations. The teams are learning a huge amount at each race in the first season on the Dunlop options. It will be good to see the LMP2 cars back and fighting for championship positions as well as the race win. With two different winners from the previous rounds it will be interesting to see if the fight gets closer or if one of the front runners can start to pull away from the rest.”