IN TOUCHMotorsport news

Issue three – May ‘09

Dunlop takes pole anD class victories at nurburgring 24hrs

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Le MaNS SeRIeSMX3

FOUR wHeelstwO wHeels

Victory in GT1 class for Dunlop at spa-Franchorchamps 1000kms

Finnish rider Antti Pyrhönen wins his career first World Championship moto on Dunlop

Raeder Motorsport Ford gT driver Dirk > adorf sneaks overall pole for Dunlop

BMW’s > M3 gT4 in the hands of WTCC stars sets pole in gT4 class

Four class wins for VW & BMW on Dunlop tyres >

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dUnlOp celebRates OveRall pOle and class wins at nURbURgRing

Le MANSNuRBuRgRINg 24 hRS

The Nurburgring 24 hours is one of the most important races on

the German motorsport calendar and so it was with a large sense of pride that Dunlop started the 2009 edition from pole position, and recorded fastest laps in various classes, and celebrated class victories.

No fewer than 180 cars started the 2009 race, which takes place on the famous north loop of the German circuit. The drivers call the race the “Green Hell” due to the conditions faced, including huge speed differential between the fastest and slowest cars, the potential for snow, fog and rain during the race, and the challenging nature of the 25 km circuit which first opened in 1927.

This year’s race, unusually,

was dry throughout, and so the winning Porsche was able to set a new distance record, beating the previous best by more than 100km.

Dirk Adorf, sharing the raeder Motorsport Ford GT with development driver Thomas Mutsch, circuit designer Herman Tilke and Marc Henerici, led the field away from the green lights, and fended off a determined challenge from the Manthey Porsche 997 for the opening few laps.

Unfortunately, with so many starters, traffic is always a problem and so it proved just five laps into the race when the German slid off the track while lapping another car. The incident heavily damaged the front of the car. Though the team

was able to repair the damage, the car retired just past half distance with an engine problem.

Dunlop shod cars set fastest laps in many of the classes during the dry, fast race. In the sP6 class, BMw’s Z4 coupe driven by BMw’s factory drivers who normally contest the world Touring Car Championship Dirk Muller, Augusto Farfus, sharing with Claudia Huertgen, set the fastest lap of the class with an 8m54.972s lap. In the sP10 class, for GT4 cars, BMw’s brand new M3 GT4 started from the class pole, and recorded the fastest race lap in the hands of

Jorg Muller, Andy Priaulx, Marcus schurig and Jochen Ubler.

Not only was Dunlop setting fastest laps in qualifying and in the race, but teams were converting the speed into results. Vanina Ickx, Thomas Klenke, Peter Terting and Klaus Niedzwiedz won the AT class in their alternative fuelled Vw scirocco. They completed more than 3,500 kilometers on their way to 17th position overall.

Dunlop aslo helped BMw to two class wins, adding further laurels to the tyre company’s long history of success in endurance racing.

Pole-sitter Raeder Motorsport Ford GT leading the fieldBMw Z4 driven by wTCC drivers Muller and Farfus, joined by Claudia Huertgen

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Class winning Vw scirocco BMw M3 sets pole in GT4 class

May poDIuM FINISheS

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BTCC: After four races in the British Touring Car Championship, Matt Neil is >topping the driver standings driving his Vauxhall Vectra VXr albeit winning just one race of 12 on four various tracks. The BTCC series organisers have announced dramatic changes to the technical regulations for 2011 covering two-litre turbo-charged engines, front-wheel-drive and larger cars only.

DTM: > The German Touring Car series dominated by Audi and Mercedes and with all 21 cars on Dunlop sP sport Maxx tyres, is two races into the season. The first race at Hockenheim was dominated by Audi drivers scheider and Kristensen. At the eurospeedway it was Mercedes driver Gary Paffett’s turn to take the top podium spot.

MINI-CHAlleNGe: Mini celebrated its 50th birthday >at silverstone where both the German and British Mini-Challenge competed in various races. All Mini Cooper S cars run on Dunlop 215/45R17 Dunlop Formula r slick racing tyres.

news telex

INTeRNaTIoNaL RaCe CLaSSeS

British Mini-Challenge podium

Paffett, spengler and ekström celebrate eurospeedway podium in DTM

GT-Open podium Algarve

Alphand Aventures moves into the lead of the teams’ classification. > Controversy in GT2 The GT2 class, for GT cars which run either with smaller tyres or more weight than the GT1 cars, was plunged into controversy after the spa 1000kms when the winning car was thrown out of the results on a technicality. Dunlop’s JMw Ferrari F430GT was leading the race comfortably when an error in the pits forced two pit stops in quick succession for Italian driver Gianmaria Bruni. with the high level of competition within the class, that dropped him, and rob Bell who shared the driving during the five hour, 45 minute

race, to third place in class. However, in post race checks, the winning Porsche 997 was excluded, promoting the Ferrari to second position. The results of the race are provisional pending an appeal by the Porsche team. > Fastest lap for Dunlop in LMP2 Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral set the fastest race lap in their lMP2 class Dunlop-shod Ginetta

Zytek, but they were forced to retire after just 64 laps. The full focus for the le Mans series now shifts to the iconic le Mans circuit for the 77th edition of the legendary 24 hour race on June 13th and 14th. Dunlop will be supplying tyres to 11 competing cars including the JMw Motorsport Ferrari F430 and the luc Alphand Aventure Corvette C6r.

Dunlop celebrated victory in the spa 1000kms, the

second race of the 2009 le Mans series. Patrice Goueslard, luc Alphand and Yann Clairay won the GT1 class in their road-based Corvette C6r, a lap ahead of the lamborghini Murcielago of Peter Kox, eric Janis and Filip salaquarda. The French reigning champion team has switched from Michelin to Dunlop this season, and is already enjoying success. The team led the first race in Barcelona in April before a driver error put the Corvette into the gravel. There were no such problems at spa and with victory in Belgium, luc

Luc alphand aventures wins Spa 1000kms and moves into >gT1 class lead

LMS gT2 results remain provisional >

ginetta Zytek fastest in LMp2 on Dunlop tyres >

victORy FOR dUnlOp at spa!

Le MaNS SeRIeS

luc Alphand Aventures victorious in GT1 class at spa

Fastest lap for Dunlop in lMP2 with Ginetta Zytek

Class winning Corvette C6r of luc Alphand Aventures

JMW Motorsport F430GT finished on the podium; second or third

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compliments all contestants on their creative skills and ingenuity. spurred by the enthusiasm generated, Dunlop put together a senior jury board, combining marketing, design and racing expertise. Dunlop europe Brand Director Frédéric schilling had the pleasure of chairing the following five experts who helped him pick the designs that best expressed Dunlop’s ‘Feel the road’ concept. The panel consisted of Jim Mcwhirter, owner of the JMw Motorsport Team, Daniel Poissenot, Directeur sports AOC (Organizer of the 24 Hours of le Mans), Alfredo Palme, Pininfarina Chief Designer, Philippe Peter, lMs (le Mans series) Organization and Jean Felix Bazelin, Dunlop Motorsport General Manager. Also present at the race will be the three finalist designers nominated by the jury, Christian Baur from Germany, Mrick Narbot from France, Christelle Tea and Giselle Navarette from France. The fourth finalist, Joao Pedro from Portugal, was selected by members of the public who had the opportunity to rate and vote for the 20

designs on the special DACC website at www.Dunlop.eu. The JMw Motorsport Team driver line up for le Mans consists of regular driver rob Bell who will be joined by Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim sugden for the legendary 24hrs race on the 13th and 14th of June. Bell is no stranger to success with the Ferrari, the reigning LMS GT2 champion of 2007

and 2008 has already scored two podiums in the 2009 lMs campaign and looks set to continue the success with Kirkaldy and sugden onboard. Kirkaldy drives with Bell in the FIA GT Championship and sugden is a le Mans veteran and manages the JMw Motorsport Team when he’s not behind the wheel.

In 2008 the lMs GT2 championship winning and Dunlop supported

Ferrari F430 appeared in a yellow Dunlop branded livery that struck a chord with fans and the paddock alike, so much so that the car was dubbed the ‘Dunlop car’. To build on the popularity of the car Dunlop europe organized a pan european livery design competition called the Dunlop Art Car Competition (DACC). The final result will be unveiled for all to see at the upcoming le Mans race weekend as German competition winner Christian Bauer’s design graces the JMw Motorsport Ferrari F430GT competing in the GT2 class. Twenty designs made it through the preliminary national competitions that were held in Germany, France, spain, Portugal and the UK. From these 20 European semi finalists four designers have been invited to join the 24 Hour of le Mans race as Dunlop’s VIP guests. Dunlop would like to thank all of the 180 DACC participants for their efforts in making the livery competition such a success and

2009 Jmw mOtORspORt F430gt ‘dUnlOp’ caR bReaks cOveR

DuNLop aRT CaR CoMpeTITIoN

german designer wins DaCC with ‘Feel the Road’ theme >

Total of 180 designs submitted by hopeful entrants >

Drivers Rob Bell, Tim Sugden and andrew Kirkaldy to drive >‘Dunlop art Car’ at Le Mans 24hrs

winning design by Christian Baur

Finalist design by Mrick Narbot Finalist design by Christelle Tean and Giselle Navarette

Public favourite Joao Pedro from Portugal Ferrari F430 ready for its new livery

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gp250 / gp125

2 wHeel NewsTwO wHeel News

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Wet 250gp races at both Le Mans and Mugello >

Simoncelli jumpes up to third in the 250gp Championship >

Bradley Smith takes the lead in the 125gp standings >

The French GP at le Mans saw both the 125 and 250GP races

run in wet weather yet again. The track suffers from low-grip in the wet, and combined with a surface temperature of just 15C meant crashing was the order of the day, most noticeably in the 125 race where only 15 of the 33 starters made it to the chequered flag. Julian simon gave a masterful display of wet weather riding in the 125 GP class. starting seventh on the grid, it took him just 3 laps to move into the lead, which he extended throughout the rest of the race to finish 27 seconds clear. Even more impressive was Jonas Folger, the 15 year old German rider coming through from 16th on the grid to take second by the half way point, and then holding off simon’s team mates sergio Gadea and Bradley smith for the remaining 12 laps to take his first ever podium. The adverse weather did little to dampen Marco simoncelli’s enthusiasm in the 250GP. The reigning 250cc world Champion was back on form, leading from start to finish first on his Gilera. Simoncelli opened up an 18 second gap over Hector Faubel’s Honda to take a well deserved win. roberto locatelli, Marco’s Metis Gilera team-mate, finished third, with championship leader Alvaro Bautista just missing out on a podium finish in fourth place.> Mugello GP

It was just about dry at Mugello for the 125GP race. As ever, the Italian circuit delivered a hotly contested 20 lap battle. Although the lead changed

at least seven times it was Bradley smith more than any other rider who took the lead up the final straight, the 125 bikes topping 240 kph! The 17 year old Briton went on to take his second career GP win by just 0.2 seconds from Nicolas Terol, with Julian simon this time having to settle for the third podium spot. smith now leads the 125GP table, the first British rider to top a world Championship table since 1979.

The 250cc race, run in really heavy rain, showcased both the talents of the riders, particularly Pasini, simoncelli and Bautista, and the performance of Dunlop’s Kr191 and Kr393 wet tyres. Compared to the dry qualifying lap time, the riders were lapping just 11% slower in the torrential wet conditions. simoncelli led from the start but was caught by Bautista and Pasini, on lap 11 simoncelli and Bautista touched, causing both riders to run off the track through the gravel for over 100 metres. Both managed to stay upright and rejoined to set about trying to catch Pasini. The last lap saw simoncelli and Pasini swopping places constantly, but it was Pasini who held on to win by just 0.1 seconds. The first five 250 races this year have been won by five different riders, setting up a very tight group at the top of the championship table. Bautista (Aprilia) is the current leader as the teams head to spain for the Catalunya GP in Barcelona on June 14th, with Honda’s Hiroshi Aoyama second but now challenged by Marco simoncelli for the position.

Dunlop has provided Harley-Davison with renewed tyres for a

large selection of their motorcycles, i.e. for the Fat-Boy and road King. The Milwaukee build bikes will receive the updated D408F replacing the D407F tyres that were fitted as standard. The change in fitted front tyre will take place in the first half of the calendar year 2009. The D408F tyre will offer improved tyre wear for some customers over the D407F. The new D408F tyre is the D407F pattern reversed with the internal construction corrected to run in the opposite direction.

Honda’s new stylish chopper, the VTX Fury 1300, will be fitted with Dunlop’s elite 3 90/90-21 front tyre and a wide 200/50r18 rear.

tyRe Fitting telexoe NeWS

RaCe CaLeNDaR

JuNe

14-06 le Mans 24hrs MotoGP: Catalunya BTCC: Croft28-06 GT-Open: spa-Franchorchamps MotoGP: Assen DTM: Norisring

robert leslie (les) Graham (sept. 14, 1911 - Jun. 12, 1953)

was a British motorcycle road racer who competed in the 1930s and

1940s. He won the inaugural Grand Prix motorcycle racing 500 cc world Championship in 1949 riding a AJs Porcupine fitted with Dunlop tyres.

60 yeaRS ago...

2 wHeel NewsTwO wHeel News

> How long have you worked with Dunlop, and what is your career history before joining the company? I started in the tyre business in september 1980 when I was just out of university. At that time it was not with Dunlop (we all make mistakes when we are young!) I worked for Kleber tyres as a race service engineer. The best time of that period was when I was in charge of the Audi Quattro world rally program in 1982 with Hannu Mikkola and Michèle Mouton, and we won a world title. I then went to the Kleber Troyes factory to become an engineer for cross ply front wheel farm tyres. My first job for Dunlop was in 1985, when I was recruited to take care of Original equipment technical contacts for all product lines in southern europe. Between ‘89 and ‘02, I then went through an interesting and very varied career path. In marketing, I was product manager for passenger car tyres. As after sales representative I was Technical service Manager for southern europe, I was a Quality Assurance Manager and

then became Production and Maintenance Manager for the Dunlop tyre factory in Amiens. early in ‘03, I made the move from my home country of France to Birmingham to become Manufacturing Manager of the production of motorsport tyres. In ‘04, I was asked to take responsibility of newly created Motorsport europe PBU.> How many people do you manage? Around 250.> Which are the most important programmes for Dunlop Motorsport, and are you satisfied with the way they are developing this year? All the programmes are important, either because they involve Oe manufacturers, such as BMw in the AlMs and suzuki in world endurance, or because they allow us to compete with our best competitors in the le Mans series, superbike and supersport categories. we are continuously improving performances through technology, and the programmes provide a marketing platform for our advertising and image building activities. we are also able to strengthen our relations with

customers and dealers in categories such as the DTM, BTCC and superMoto. > Can you see Dunlop building in the successes of 2009 and building an even more impressive 2010 programme?Not only can I see that happening, but all the Motorsport eU team work towards the same target: winning! we want to build our credibility and successes step by step, but are always seeking for more, to be better, and quicker.>What has been your proudest moment working with Dunlop?working with teams of people that have helped me to improve the satisfaction of our customers, our colleagues and our stakeholders. On a more personal point of view, I thought I was a Frenchman coming to motorsport in UK, but actually I became part of a great Motorsport eU team of people, and that makes me proud.> How have you managed to transfer the technology you have used for racing into development for the road? Technology transfer is one of the major objectives of Dunlop Motorsport eU assigned by the Goodyear Dunlop group. we are in a climate when it is not enough to use Motorsport as a marketing tool. we must add actual technical benefits to the marketing ones. For many years we have seen that the top range of motorcycle road tyres are pretty close to the bottom range of racing tyres. The technology transfer was obvious: for a motorcycle fan riding on superbike (or even MotoGP) technology five years after it had been raced was not unusual. High grip compounds, exotic fiber construction, multi

compound treads and so on have quickly moved from race tracks to hyper sport road bikes. Today we are designing those new tyres that will bring our road customers more safety, more grip, more excitement of riding. Our designers from Birmingham and Montluçon (motorcycle factory producing road tyres) work closely together. where this transfer of technology is newer is in car products. In the last five years we have seen Motorsport and mainstream products coming closer together. High performance cars have become more advanced, and the technology is far closer to GT racing cars. In endurance racing, the number of tyres available to each car is limited, and so as with road cars we need a longer life span. The rules demand that a tyre’s geometrical size is compatible with road cars. Track days are also reducing the gap between road and race tyres! we have fruitful exchanges between Motorsport eU design, development engineers, and our development centers for mainstream car products in luxemburg and Germany, and more will come. It would be a pity not to exploit our strong position in international GT2 races (le Mans series with Ferrari, American le Mans series with BMw) as well as our long term connections with the european GT Open championship to provide our road customers with the spin-offs of our racing results.

The fast Fin Antti Pyrhönen won his career first World

Championship moto at the fourth round of the 2009 MX3 series that was held at the sandy circuit of laguna Caren in Chile in front of a massive crowd of 30.000 spectators. Antti used the versatile Dunlop D773F front tyre both in practice and the race which dealt brilliantly with the soft sand as well as when the surface hardened during the weekend. The soil of the laguna

Caren track did not see rain for the last two month, causing the track to get more compact and harder as the event progressed. For this reason Antti changed from the MX11 on the rear in practice to the MC763 which better suited the harder track conditions in the race. In the first heat Pyrhönen finished fifth. After taking the holeshot he led the race for about ten minutes but then had to slow down as he used too much energy trying to stay in front. For the second moto Antti

changed his strategy preserving his strengths better over the race and taking maximum benefit of his exemplary fitness. After passing Matevz Irt (slo) he took the lead and held it to the flag, setting the fastest lap of the race along the way. Pyrhönen is the first Fin in ten years to win a MX3 world Championship moto. The 41 points collected in Chile promote Pyrhönen to fourth in the MX3 standings, 32 points adrift of championship leader Julien Vanni (F).

pyRHÖnen wins mx3 in cHile

MX3

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Jeremy Ferguson International Motorsport Manager jeremy_ferguson@goodyear.comDunlop Motorsport DivisionDunlop Tyres ltdFort DunlopBirminghamB24 9QT - United KingdomTel: +44 121 306 6000fax: +44 121 306 7000e-mail: motorsport@dunloptyres.com

CoNTaCTS

Q&a

Jean-Felix bazelin: geneRal manageR, mOtORspORt eU

lUC AlPHAND (leFT) AND JeAN FelIX BAZelIN (rIGHT)