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IMOTORSPORTNT NEWS OuchJuNE‘11 ISSuE 16 IN ThIS ISSuE: LE MaNS 24 ISLE Of MaN TT MX1 / MX2 Dunlop’S 11 IN a row aT ThE BOL D’OR LE MaNS SUCCESS! LE MaNS REVIEW LMP2 WIN aT LE MaNS GTE PRO PODIuM The 79th Le Mans 24 Hours proved to be Dunlop also enjoyed success in GTE-Pro another successful race for Dunlop, with a 1-2 during the 79th Le Mans 24 Hours, with BMW finish in the LMP2 class. Motorsport taking a podium finish in the highly Greaves Motorsport trio Karim Ojjeh, Tom competitive and hotly contested class. Kimber-Smith and Olivier Lombard took class Despite a number of unscheduled stops to honours and were the highest placed Dunlop rectify various problems, Andy Priaulx, Dirk finishers in eighth overall, with a largely Müller and Joey Hand finished third in the #56 trouble-free run seeing them finish six laps BMW M3 GT while the sister car of Augusto clear of fellow Dunlop team Signatech Nissan. Farfus, Jorg Müller and Dirk Werner started Despite various dramas during the race, all from pole and looked set to finish well up the seven of Dunlop’s LMP2 cars made it to the class standings before retiring less than three finish with RML, OAK Racing’s #49 entry and hours from the finish. Race Performance also inside the top 20 For Dunlop’s other GTE-Pro teams, it was a overall. more challenging race with the Jota Aston The success in LMP2 made up for a tough Martin Vantage retiring with an engine issue race in the premier LMP1 class, with a tyre and the JMW Ferrari – resplendent in the development partner OAK Racing forced to winning livery from the Dunlop Art Car retire both of its cars – the #15 with mechanical competition – down in ninth in class after fuel problems and the #24 after a small fire left it pressure and clutch problems hampered its stranded on track. The Quifel-ASM Zytek also challenge. failed to see the finish having been forced out In GTE-Am, the JMB Racing Ferrari 430 took when the engine let go early on. fourth place although engine failure forced “As always, the Le Mans 24 Hours is a race Krohn Racing to retire. The Gulf AMR Middle full of drama,” Dunlop Motorsport’s General East Aston Martin Vantage also failed to finish Manager Jean-Félix Bazelin said. “In LMP2, we after an accident in the Porsche Curves early scored a fantastic win with Greaves on Sunday morning, although the car had led Motorsport and we congratulate them for that. the class in the opening six hours. “Unfortunately, our challenge in the LMP1 In total across the four classes in the race, category ended early, but we were quick in Dunlop tyres completed a total of 3868 laps on this class and I am happy that our tyres 17 of the 56 cars entered, equating to worked well across all our cars and we are at approximately 52,444 kilometres or 32,587 least a match for the opposition.” miles! BRIT WINS DUNLOP LIVERY COMPETITION Mik Whiting from Derbyshire in the UK won the 2011 Dunlop Livery The winning designer describes himself as a complete Competition, with his design adorning the Dunlop-supported JMW ‘petrol-head’. Mik’s dream trip was won by highlighting the Motorsport Ferrari F458 Italia Dunlop Art Car. ‘Britishness’ in the team, drivers’ and Dunlop’s heritage, and using Mik and two other finalists attended Le Mans where they enjoyed the colours and ‘Flying D’ that epitomise Dunlop in a design that’s a full programme of activities over the course of the build-up to the eye-catching and instantly recognisable as a Dunlop car. event, and the race itself. “I’m so proud to see my design actually on the car and then to The winning design was chosen from over 250 entries received from see it line up on the grid at the start of the race was just awesome,” throughout Europe. The public elected finalist designs by voting on-line at said Mik. www.livery-competition. dunlop.eu with the final decision made by a “Once the race was underway I had friends text me telling me jury comprised of Sanjay Khanna (MD, Goodyear Dunlop) Jean-Félix they’d seen my design racing on TV and they even heard my name Bazelin (General Manager, Dunlop Motorsport) Jim McWhirter mentioned on the commentary for winning the competition.” (Principle, JMW Motorsports) and Fabrice Bourrigaud (Marketing & Communications Manager, ACO). MOTO2 MOTO2 Estoril LE MaNS CATaLuNYa SILVERSTONE After big wins for Stefan Bradl and Andrea Iannone in the opening Moto2 welcomed its first new winner of 2011, following a breakthrough Catalunya saw Dunlop extend its exclusive tyre contract until the end Slippery conditions at Silverstone couldn’t loosen Stefan Bradl’s grip 2011 races, victory in the all-Dunlop Moto2 World Championship was victory by reigning 125cc World Champion Marc Marquez at Le Mans. of 2014, while title leader Stefan Bradl continued his run of alternating on the Moto2 World Championship, as Dunlop’s wet tyres made their decided by just 0.147sec in Portugal. The 18-year-old Spanish rookie had failed to score a single point race wins. second race appearance of the season. Starting from a perfect third pole of the year, and on a dry track after incidents in all three previous rounds, but showed no lack of Bradl, winner of rounds one and three, kept his Kalex up front for Once again, the young German understood the limits of adhesion after another weekend of mixed Estoril weather, Bradl used speed self-belief as he climbed purposefully up the order from ninth on lap 1. most of the fifth round - while collisions just behind him took out better than his rivals, many of whom were caught out by the and patience to take his second win of the season. The Suter rider snatched the lead with four laps to go, then rode to a Thomas Lüthi and Yuki Takahashi, then Julián Simón and Kenan treacherous conditions. Twice the Kalex rider lost the lead, only to have it swiftly returned safe 1.9sec victory over Moriwaki’s Yuki Takahashi. Sofuoglu. Bradl retook the advantage from local star Scott Redding on lap 4 of when the rider ahead crashed. First to falter was Interwetten’s Takahashi to fifth-placed Thomas Lüthi (Suter) were covered by just Those incidents helped Le Mans winner Marc Márquez (Suter) 18, then returned to the top when Mattia Pasini crashed from a Thomas Lüthi, then points’ leader Iannone - who charged forwards 0.627sec, with Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Kalex) beating inherit second place, four-seconds from Bradl, with former MotoGP short-lived lead on lap 8. from 16th, only to stumble from his Suter. Julian Simon (Suter) to the final podium position. rider Aleix Espargaró (Pons Kalex) claiming his first ever Moto2 Dunlop’s 414 wets offered so much grip that Bradl’s best lap, of Bradl, winner of last October’s Estoril race, then rode a defensive A costly first-lap error by Andrea Iannone meant Bradl left Le Mans rostrum in third. 2min 25.096sec, was only beaten by eight riders in the following final lap to keep Aspar’s Julian Simon at bay. Gresini’s Yuki Takahashi with a 28-point lead over new nearest rival Simon. Bradl’s victory also meant a winning debut for Dunlop’s new MotoGP race! claimed third. Bradl was one of eight riders to race with Dunlop’s new asymmetric W919 rear tyre, developed during winter testing. The biggest cheer of the day went to Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, who 85% of the riders - including the podium finishers - picked the 717 high-ambient 3757 rear tyre, which had been as good - if not better - Offered alongside the softer 3868 option, rider opinion was initially charged from 28th to 2nd in front of his home fans. Fellow rookie (hard) front tyre, with the entire field electing to run the 3854 than the proven 3854 soft-medium rear during hot Friday practice. divided equally between the two tyres - but by race day, 70% had Michele Pirro (Moriwaki) also took his first rostrum with third. (soft-medium) rears. Dunlop engineers were impressed by how well the 3757 performed opted for the W919. Despite Estoril’s heavy bias towards right-hard turns, tyre wear was in the cooler race-day conditions, although Bradl felt the temperature Like Bradl, Márquez also ran the W919 in combination with the balanced and impressive endurance meant the top three all set their change cost him some edge-grip relative to the 3854 riders, who (harder) 717 front compound, which was favoured throughout the fastest laps after mid-race distance. dominated the top six. grid. Espargaró was the only rider in the top six to use the 3868 rear. The top rider on the 753 (medium) front was FTR’s Simone Corsi in In terms of front tyres, the 753 medium-compound allowed better The 23-lap race took its toll on both types of rear tyre, in terms of fifth. Earlier in the weekend, the 414 wets had once again performed outright performance, but riders selected the 717 hard-compound due wear and abrasion, but riders remained happy with performance. admirably on a tricky drying surface. to its superior stability and manoeuvrability. Bradl’s victory gave him a 13-point lead over Iannone. 125’S fINaL cOuNTDOWN The final season of the 125cc World Championship again sees all shine and the 17-year-old left the British Grand Prix 35 points behind riders running Dunlop tyres, as a mix of up-and-coming stars take on Terol, who rode to a safe eighth.