Dunlop came away from Spa disappointed to have narrowly missed out on a win in the six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship event. Despite the Dunlop-shod cars having significantly quicker pace than the same event last year, the teams were hindered from the early stages of the race when a safety car period handed an advantage to Pecom Racing, the eventual winners.
Olivier Pla in the #24 Oak Racing Morgan led the race to the first round of pit-stops when he then dropped to second. An accident just after the first hour brought out a safety car, the timing of which gave the class leader a one-lap advantage. From there the Dunlop cars gave chase, using the double stinting ability of the tyres to their advantage to close the gap.
An exciting final hour was heightened when the Pecom car sustained a puncture and levelled the playing field, although the time lost wasn’t dramatic enough for the Dunlop runners to build a big lead as the puncture occurred close to the pit lane entry. Initially Pla, back in the #24 Oak car, led but with 44 minutes to go he needed to make a final pit-stop and dropped to third. Jota was then handed the baton and led until 12 minutes of the race remained when it too needed a final fuel stop allowing Pecom to return to the front. The #24 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan was classified in second, just twelve seconds behind, with the Jota Zytek Z11SN-Nissan finishing in third and 28 seconds from the leader.
The Dunlop runners showed great pace in the hot, dry conditions. The fastest lap by a Dunlop driver in qualifying was over 1.5 seconds faster than for 2012 and the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca set the fastest LMP2 lap of the race, was 1.2 seconds faster than the fastest 2012 time. The cars also completed more laps in the six hours, completing 157 laps compared to 151 last year.
Jean-Felix Bazelin, General Manager Dunlop Motorsport Europe: “Of course we are here to win and it’s a shame that our teams didn’t have the luck that they deserved. The drivers were very happy that even in the unusual heat of Spa they could easily double-stint the soft compound. They commented on having good grip throughout and were very happy with the balance which is good for their confidence heading to Le Mans.”
Source : Dunlop