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INISSUE TOUCH26 MOTORSPORT NEWS FEATURE FEATURE DUNLOP DUNLOP SET FOR THE SET FOR THE ‘green hell’ ‘green hell’ Dunlop’s 2012 HALL OF FAME 2012 REVIEW MOTORSPORT HALL OF FAME 2012 HAS BEEN A SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR DUNLOP IN BOTH THE REALMS OF FOUR AND TWO WHEELED CHAMPIONSHIPS. HERE WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE BEST AND MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS WITH OUR 2012 HALL OF FAME GALLERY. 2012 Dunlop was represented throughout the grid in the NEW WORLD ORDER German-based VLN Series in 2012 and it was a Dunlop-shod team that would emerge victorious when the championship The 2012 season marked a new dawn for sportscar racing campaign drew to a premature conclusion. with the introduction of the FIA World Endurance VLN The series, which races on the infamous Nürburgring Championship – which would be decided over eight races, Nordschleife and caters from a wide range of cars from the including the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Le Mans 24 Hours. latest GT3 machinery down to small saloons, featured a Dunlop would have a key part to play in the inaugural hard-fought title battle as teams from the different classes season, with every competitor in the highly-competitive LMP2 looked to secure the overall crown. class choosing to race on Dunlop tyres, while there were also ENDS part-season entries from Dunlop teams in both LMP1 and Heading into the final round it was Christian Krognes, Dominik Brinkmann and Ullrich Andree who topped the points GTE-Am. in their Dunlop-shod Volkswagen Scirocco GT24. With the LMP1 championship being a two-horse race When the tenth race of the year was then cancelled on between the factory Audi and Toyota teams, the fight for the EARLY safety grounds after freezing temperatures and snow, their LMP2 title would prove to be one of the most enthralling of the record of seven SP3T class wins in nine starts was enough to season. beat Renault Clio pairing Elmar Jurek and Jannik Olivio to the crown. STARWORKS STAR ...BUT Alongside its championship success, Dunlop also secured some impressive results in the nine races that took place - with The fact that each of the competing teams was using the at least one Dunlop-shod car on the overall podium on eight same Dunlop tyres only served to make the class even more occasions. competitive with Starworks eventually coming out on top of There were also three Dunlop victories in nine starts, the first the pile with its HPD ARX-03b. DUNLOP of which came thanks to BMW Team Schubert after Dirk Starworks took a stunning overall podium at Sebring and Adorf, Dirk Müller and Jörg Müller took victory in a challenging added victories at Le Mans - where the HPD was the first season opener that was halted early due to fog. Dunlop-shod car home in seventh overall – and in Sao Paulo. The remaining two wins came thanks to Dunlop’s That gave the American team the LMP2 trophy with a race WINS development partner ROWE Racing, with Jan Seyffarth and to spare ahead of ADR-Delta – winners on four occasions at Alexander Roloff victorious in round five by less than Spa, Silverstone, Fuji and Shanghai – and Pecom Racing, who four-tenths of a second. The pair were then joined at the wheel took victory in Bahrain. of their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 by Thomas Jäger to Starworks driver Enzo Potolicchio also finished an win round seven, where they tied the distance record of 42 impressive ninth in the drivers’ standings; the only non-LMP1 laps for a six hour race. driver to achieve the feat and the highest placed man to have However, covering the distance quicker than anyone in the raced on Dunlop tyres. past, the trio did take the honour of winning the ‘fastest’ six “We must congratulate Starworks Motorsport, and their hour event. drivers Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio and Stéphane Sarrazin for winning the LMP2 category,” Dunlop Motorsport’s general manager Jean-Felix Bazelin said. “LMP2 features the most cars and the closest racing with everyone on Dunlop tyres, so to have achieved their goal with LMP1 a race to go against this competitive backdrop is a fantastic achievement and we offer them our praise.” For Dunlop’s LMP1 development partner OAK Racing, it would be a challenging season in the premier class despite a positive start at Sebring where Guillaume Moreau was the best-placed petrol qualifier in fifth overall. Sadly, the Judd-powered OAK Pescarolo was forced to start at the back of the grid after failing a stall test and was then put into retirement by engine trouble. Another solid run at Spa also ended in disappointment when suspension failure just minutes from the end meant another DNF. A huge accident in the Le Mans test saw Moreau sidelined with a spinal injury, with the team bringing former Peugeot factory man Frank Montagny onboard for the race only for another engine issue to put the car out. The LMP1 machine would return for the final two races of the season in Japan and China with a new Honda engine and with ex-F1 man Takuma Sato as one of the drivers, and picked up a brace of top eight finishes in class. After showing strong pace and maximising the performance of its Dunlop tyres, the team ended the season fourth in the LMP1 Trophy standings for privateer teams. Dunlop’s other representative came in the GTE-Am class, with the Krohn Racing Ferrari running on Dunlop rubber for the opening three races of the year. Having finished fifth in class at both Sebring and Spa, Nic Jonsson, Michele Rugulo and team boss Tracy Krohn then took second amongst the WEC runners at Le Mans. LE MANS ACTION BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES Dunlop would again be at the centre of some titanic battles on US soil as an enthralling battle for supremacy in the American Le Mans Series was fought throughout the classes. In the premier P1 class, Dyson Racing flew the flag for Dunlop as it took the challenge to HPD against rivals Pickett Racing. Chris Dyson and Guy Smith took the early lead in the points with class victory at Sebring and would also take P1 honours at Road America and Petit Le Mans, while team-mates Eric Lux and Michael Marsal were the first P1 car home in Baltimore. The end result was second in the drivers’ standings for Dyson and Smith, with the team falling just five points short of winning the teams’ title. GT LEVEL 5 FOR P2 The highly competitive GT class would take many of the headlines during The P2 class would see victories shared between the two Dunlop- the season, with BMW Team RLL again leading the Dunlop challenge. shod teams, with Level 5 pair Scott Tucker and Christophe The team would take two wins during the season – at Sebring and Road Bouchut beating Conquest Endurance drivers Martin Plowman and America – en-route to second place behind the factory Corvette team in David Heinemeier Hansson to the title. Tucker and Bouchut also the team standings, while fellow Dunlop team Paul Miller Racing ended took an overall victory in Baltimore. the year sixth with its Porsche 997 RSR. Race derived Grip and Braking for the road EURO-ZONE Dunlop shod teams featured heavily on the entry list for the and Portimao were replaced by an invitation to join the ALMS European Le Mans Series, with 14 of the 21 cars that contested finale at Petit Le Mans with four P2 teams making the trip the opening race of the year running on Dunlop tyres. Stateside. Thiriet by TDS Racing would end up being first car Thiriet by TDS Racing took honours at Paul Ricard in the top home after taking third place amongst the P2 cars on an all- New short braking blocks Massive outer New adaptive Light construction P2 class with the GTE Pro battle going to the wire before JMW Dunlop class podium – giving the French team the championship for reduced braking shoulder blocks for compound for enhanced carcass to improve Motorsport edged out fellow Ferrari team JMB to win the season title. Despite missing Petit Le Mans, JMW took the GTE Pro title, distance improved stability grip on wet and dry fuel efficiency opener in France. giving Dunlop championship success in two of the four classes. Calendar changes saw a number of teams invited to join the The series will be re-launched in 2013 with a five-race World Endurance Championship event at Spa where JOTA, beat calendar including races at Silverstone, Imola and the Red Bull the series regulars to clinch an impressive P2 victory. Ring having been announced. Donington Park became the second round of the ELMS season with OAK Racing taking overall honours and JMW picking up a second GT Pro success. Proposed races at Brno www.dunlop.eu SHEDDENISM As has become the norm, the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car It would prove to be a big season for the series as many of the leading Championship featured a dramatic battle for championship honours as teams switched to cars built to the BTCC’s Next Generation Touring Honda drivers Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal went up against the MG Car regulations – with 22 of the 30 race wins going to NGTC-spec cars. of Jason Plato in the race for the crown. Those cars were all fitted with Dunlop’s latest 18–inch tyre, which proved After 30 races around the UK it was Shedden who emerged on top to be a strong performer in all conditions.