A YEAR OF VICTORIES! DUNLOP celebrates a year

Transcription

1 IN TOUCH MOTORSPORT NEWS ISSUE 9 DECEMBER 09 A YEAR OF VICTORIES! DUNLOP celebrates a year of champions DOWNLOAD IMAGE

2 Welcome to our final edition of In Touch for 2009 It s been an incredible year for Dunlop Motorsport both on two and four wheels. The Dunlop Motorsport service teams have been working hard across the globe and have proved instrumental in delivering countless race and championship victories for our racing partners and customers. Our success has been shown not only by the winners of this year, but by the increasing number of new teams signing up to race with us for 2010, along with exciting new championships which have chosen Dunlop as their exclusive partner including the new Moto2 class in GP and the 24HR of Dubai. For our final In Touch we want to share some of this year s victories with you. With over 80 Championships won on two wheels alone it would be impossible to show them all, so please find here a small selection of some of our proudest moments of We look forward to seeing you at the track next year to share in more success with us. The Dunlop Motorsport Team

3 asian le mans series Date: 31/10/09 Drivers: Richard Hein, Jacques Nicolet Matthieu Lahaye, Oak Racing Team. Race: Okayama, Japan. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. Despite four previous podium finishes it was the inaugural ASIAN Le Mans series that brought the Oak Racing team their first race wins of 2009, gracing the top step twice and taking the well earned LMP2 title.

4 le mans series Date: 02/08/2009 Drivers: Luc Alphand, Patrice Goueslard and Stephane Gregoire, Luc Alphand Aventures Racing Team. Race: 1000km of Algarve, Portugal. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. The Luc Alphand Aventures Team build on their second place finish at Spa with a fantastic run for the first ever night race at the Portimao circuit, taking the chequered flag and gaining valuable points which ultimately saw them win the 2009 LMGT1 championship. DOWNLOAD IMAGE

5 le mans series Date: 02/08/2009 Drivers: Miguel Amaral and Olivier Pla, Quifel Team ASM. Race: 1000km of Algarve, Portugal. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. The Quifel Team ASM take another victory in the night race at the Portimao circuit in the Algarve. They went on to secure the 2009 LMP2 title. Seen just behind them in its distinctive Dunlop colours, the JMW Ferrari 430 Team car piloted by Rob Bell and Gianmaria Bruni just missed out on the LMGT2 title by a mere single point.

6 VLN (BF Goodrich Endurance Championship) Date: 27/06/2009 Drivers: Marc Basseng, Frank Biela and Hans-Joachim Stuck, Team Phoenix Racing. Race: Nurburgring, Germany. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. Basseng, Biela and Stuck had the pleasure of giving the Audi R8 LMS its first victory, also the first for Audi in the series since its inception in They delivered a convincing win at the fifth round of the 2009 championship on the legendary Nurburgring circuit and in doing so broke a nine race winning streak by Porsche.

7 DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft) Date: 25/10/2009 Driver: Timo Scheider, Audi Sport Team Abt. Race: Hockenheimring, Germany. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. Scheider scored a second place finish for the last race of the season, enough to secure him the 2009 DTM Championship title. He also made history with Audi making it the only manufacturer to win the title three consecutive times in a row in the history of the championship.

8 GT OPEN Date: 07/11/2009 Drivers: Marcel Fässler and Joël Camathias, Trottet Racing Team. Race: Portimao, Portugal. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. After a thrilling final race of the season, the Trottet Racing Team took the 2009 championship title at the Portimao circuit, the first championship victory for the team. DOWNLOAD IMAGE

9 BTCC (british touring car championship) Date: 11/10/2009 Driver: Colin Turkington, Team RAC. Race: Brands Hatch, United Kingdom. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. Turkington brings his BMW home in second position in the last race of the 2009 season. Six race wins, eight podium finishes and three fastest laps were enough to give him his first championship title in his eight year BTCC career. DOWNLOAD IMAGE

10 american le mans series Date: 17/08/2009 Drivers: Joey Hand, Bill Auberlen, Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller, BMW Rahal Letterman racing team. Race: Sebring, USA. Tyres: Dunlop Sport Maxx slicks/wets. A fantastic result for the Dunlop shod BMWs of the Rahal Letterman Racing Team, scoring a perfect one-two finish and giving the new M3 its first race victory.

11 mini challenge Date: 03/05/2009 Drivers: Manuel Bertolin, Victor Saez, Carlos Alberto Cerro. Race: Valencia, Spain. Tyres: Dunlop R17 slicks/wets. Bertolin celebrates victory in style over second place Saez and third place driver Cerro at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia mid-way through the Spanish series of the MINI Challenge. The incredibly successful national series has also brought action filled racing to the UK, Germany and Australia with more countries joining up for 2010.

12 Q&A Jean-Felix Bazelin, Dunlop Motosports EU General Manager shares his thoughts on the 2009 car motorsport season has been an incredibly successful year in racing across the world for Dunlop Motorsport, which race series particularly stood out for you this year? If you were asking a Father which of his children he prefers, I guess the answer would be none and all! I feel a bit like that.we have had an incredible season in Motorsport with lot of excitement despite the difficult economic environment. Therefore I will nominate all the race series that have succeeded in delivering a tremendous show in 2009 and thank all the drivers and organizers for their efforts and successes. That being said, it is always frustrating not to answer such a specific question, I will try to take some risks and give an answer the GTOpen championship. Why? At the beginning of 2009 there were concerns for those series that bring together Pro and Am drivers and teams. Maybe the Am s might be less able or inclined to enjoy themselves in a exciting but expensive hobby and to support racing teams in a year of recession. Despite this background I must say that I have been especially surprised to see the number of (prestigious) cars, (excellent) teams and (very) good drivers attending the GTOpen series. Overall we did not see any reduction in number of entrants and in some instances there were more than in Well done M.Pajera (the promoter)!!! Race fans have been privileged to witness some amazingly talented drivers battling for victory in 2009, who has stood out for you as the driver of the year and why? Again, a difficult question as any comparisons between series or races is subject to endless discussion and arguments. Would you say Pavarotti is a better singer than Freddy Mercury? One driver has brought a lot to our 2009 performance while staying very (too much?) modest and self-effacing is Olivier Pla, from the Portugese based ASM LMP2 team. Few people outside Motorsport know him although he is one of the best circuit drivers and the most capable at giving feedback to our engineers at development tests. I am happy to give him here all the credit he deserves. I would also pay a tribute to all the gentlemen drivers we have worked with in They very often are gentlemen in name only like the drivers of the OAK Racing Pescarolo - Jacques Nicolet, Richard Hein and Jean-François Yvon who finished on the Le Mans 24H podium after an incredibly thrilling race. Dunlop Motorsport is continually pushing forward technology to deliver the best possible tyres to win on. What has been the most significant development you have delivered to racing customers this year? What we have delivered in 2009 to our partners and customers is performance. It is what they expect, it is what we owe them. From a pure technical point of view, we have delivered better performance in all the categories in which we participated as a result of continuous product innovation including new compounds and constructions. The most significant development is probably our ability to better understand and integrate with the design engineers of the top teams (BMW, Zytek, Audi, Corvette, etc ). with whom we increasingly work. We have a new generation of engineers at Dunlop Motorsport EU and by working closely with the development engineers in our partner teams we are now able to translate drivers feed back and data into computer models then work on these models and translate that work back into real tyres that go faster, longer and better. This compounded with the huge experience of our senior design engineers makes a unique mixture of skills to deliver efficiency, performance and service to our partners. What has been the biggest challenge in 2009 for the trackside Dunlop Motorsport service? Our trackside service engineer group is (rightly) known as the best in the field. I am not being pretentious in saying that, it is what new customers have told us. Our people are known to be honest, hard workers whilst keeping this famous British sense of humor that makes things easier when things become a bit more difficult in the heat of a race. I can say this becomes some of this British sense of humour has rubbed off on me a Frenchman! The biggest challenge for our service engineers has been to retain all their human and professional skills despite having to service more, and more professional teams. The best indicator to tell me that we have succeeded in this challenge is the number of new teams coming to speak with us already for looks set to build on this year and deliver even more adrenalin fuelled racing action. Is there a new team in any class that will be racing on Dunlop s for the first time next year that you are excited about working with? Certainly right now we are in the heart of what English people call the crazy season. Everybody talks to everybody, everything is possible today and everything could collapse tomorrow. However, despite not having yet finalized all the contracts, I can tell you that our target is to go one step further than in 2009, in term of performance and results. To do that that we will have to continue with the very best partners we already have and work with new ones. ALMS, LMS, VLN are the competitive series where we already operate and we will endeavour to have better results there than in For that we could be driven to explore new categories and work with new teams and cars. Watch this space! We are very excited to start a new partnership with Formula Ford and to be selected as the sole tyre supplier for the Dubai 24H which kicks off the 2010 season in January. What has been the defining moment in motorsport for you in 2009 that really stands out as a shining example of Dunlop s involvement and dedication to racing? From what I have said earlier, you can imagine that there are so many that will live long in the memory. However as I have started to take some risks I will continue and choose one event. And the winner is :.. Portimao Le Mans Series race where we have won 3 out of 4 categories - LMP2 with ASM, Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral - GT1 with LAA Corvette, Julien Jousse, Patrice Goueslard and Yann Clairay - GT2 with the famous yellow JMW Ferrari, Rob Bell and Giamaria Bruni The post podium ceremonies and press conference have been very emotional moments for all the Dunlop Motorsport EU team.

13 125GP CHAMPIONSHIP Date: 18/10/2009 Rider: Julián Simón, Bancaja Aspar Team. Race: Phillip Island, Australia. Tyres: Dunlop slicks/wets. Simón takes victory in the Australian 125GP ahead of team-mate Bradley Smith, and in doing so secures the 125cc World title with a further two races still to run. Smith kept the pressure on to the end to take second in the championship finishing the last race in Valencia less than half a second behind world champion Simón in first.

14 250GP Championship Date: 08/11/2009 Rider: Hiroshi Aoyoma, Scot Racing Team. Race: Valencia, Spain. Tyres: Dunlop slicks/wets. Aoyoma finished eighth in this, the last race of the season. It was enough for him to take his first 250GP title, the last ever in the series as it will be replaced by the new Moto2 class in 2010.

15 japanese Superbike Championship Date: 01/11/2009 Rider: Katsuyuki Nakasuga, YSP Racing Team. Race: Suzuka, Japan. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks/wets. An exhilarating final round of the Japanese Superbike Championship saw reigning 2008 champion Nakasuga battling it out in wet and dry conditions to retain his title for the second year running. This was the first time the championship had been run on the east course of the Suzuka circuit, a short 2.243km track with few passing places, offering an exciting spectacle for race fans.

16 australian Superbike Championship Date: 29/11/2009 Rider: Josh Waters, Team Joe Rocket Suzuki. Race: Phillip Island, Australia. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. Josh Waters dominated the season, taking a double win at Phillip Island to claim the championship title in his rookie year.

17 ama superbike Championship Date: 16/08/2009 Rider: Mat Mladin, Rockstar Makita Suzuki Team. Race: Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals American Superbike Race, Virginia International Raceway, USA. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. Mladin claims his seventh AMA Superbike title with two races remaining in the 2009 series.

18 Isle of man TT Date: 06/06/2009 Rider: Steve Plater, HM Plant Honda. Race: Senior TT, Isle of Man. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. Steve Plater heads to an impressive debut senior TT victory. The 2009 TT week proved to be an historic success for Dunlop, taking a clean sweep of all five classes with Plater joined by John McGuinness, Ian Hutchinson and Michael Dunlop claiming victories in the Superbike TT, Junior Supersport TT, Supersport TT (on D211GP tyres) and Superstock TT.

19 idm GERMAN Superbike Championship Date: 23/08/2009 Rider: Jorg Teuchert, Team Yamaha Motor Germany. Race: Assen, Netherlands. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. A fantastic year for Teuchert, the German rider wrapping up the 2009 championship title by Assen with one round to go.

20 SPANISH formula extreme superbike championship Date: 22/11/2009 Rider: Carmelo Morales, Team Siemens Gigaset LaGlisse, ESP. Race: Valencia, Spain. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. Morales weaves through the last few corners at the final round of the championship in Valencia. The race win gave him the Formula Extreme Championship title for the second year running. Morales went on to win the Albacete European Championship on the 1st November riding a Superstock machine on Dunlop D211 GP tyres.

21 Finnish Superbike Championship Date: 28/06/2009 Rider: Vesa Kallio, Kallio KTM Racing Team. Race: Alastaro, Finland. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. An incredible year for Vesa Kallio, The Finnish rider s domination of the championship was total, winning every single race to take the justly deserved 2009 title.

22 Swedish Pro Superbike Championship Date: 26/09/2009 Rider: Filip Backlund, Team Backlund Racing. Race: Mantorp, Norway. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. Suzuki rider Backlund spent pretty much the whole season on the podium, taking a safe second at Mantorp to win the 2009 championship title.

23 bol d or 24hr Date: 13/09/2009 Riders: Freddy Foray, Olivier Four, Vincent Philippe, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team. Race: Magny Cours, France. Tyres: Dunlop N-Tec slicks / wets. SERT take a confident victory in the 2009 Bol d Or 24HR endurance race after months of extensive testing with Dunlop.

24 Q&A - Stephen Male, Dunlop Motorcycle Motorsports EU Manager shares his thoughts on the 2009 motorcycle motorsport season has been an incredibly successful year in racing across the world for Dunlop Motorsport, which race series particularly stood out for you this year? We ve won over 80 individual motorcycle championships across the globe during 2009, so it s a little difficult singling out 1 particular series however from my perspective I think our achievement in the IDM German Superbike series stands out. We started the season in 2009 following our drive in 2008 to re-establish our credibility after a couple of years where we were not at the level we wanted. The end results were championship wins in all 3 competitive classes; Superbike, Supersport and 125cc, in the process persuading many teams and riders to switch to Dunlop from other brands. How did we do this? Product and Service. The wider availability of our N tech product range for both Superbike and Supersport and continuous support to IDM from the Birmingham design and service groups were deciding factors for many of these new customers. Race fans have been privileged to witness some amazingly talented riders battling for victory in 2009, who has stood out for you as the rider of the year and why? Again we have seen many tremendous performances this year, Jorg Teuchert dominated IDM Superbike and Sasha Hommel won the IDM 600 Supersport Championship at only 19 years of age. Steve Plater won both the Senior TT and the British Supersport Championship and Vesa Kallio won 9 races from 9 starts on his KTM to win the Finnish Superbike Championship. I think the overall performance of the year must go to the last ever 250cc Grand Prix World Champion, Hiroshi Aoyama. Dunlop Motorsport is continually pushing forward technology to deliver the best possible tyres to win on. What has been the most significant development you have delivered to racing customers this year? We have worked on many new developments during the year but 2 items stand out. Firstly, from a motorcycle point of view the introduction of the new Moto 2 class, one year earlier than originally planned and the subsequent award of this class to Dunlop as a one-brand, in Grand Prix for 3 years. This meant we have had to develop the tyres for these completely new machines in a very short period of time, with very limited testing opportunities. We have succeeded in developing the new tyres, in the process defining sizes, profiles, constructions, compounds etc, on time (production has already started) with a performance level higher than that of our Supersport tyres, a huge testament to the skills of the motorcycle race technical team. From an overall motorsport point of view one of our major successes has been the development of a completely new family of race tread compounds. At the end of 2009 a number of our compounding materials will become illegal from a Health and Safety point of view in the manufacturing plants. We started work on replacing these materials during the latter part of 2008 and have developed through 2009 a completely new family of compounds with new, legal materials which now out-perform the previous compounds. This is an important achievement as it means our customers will enjoy even better tyre performance during What has been the biggest challenge in 2009 for the trackside Dunlop Motorsport service? The biggest challenge we have had to deal with in 2009 has been the success of our products in Superbike and Supersport. This success has meant that at almost every race this year we have had increasing workloads as more customers switched to Dunlop. Satisfying these new customers has been a major priority as our whole philosophy is focused on Product AND Service looks set to build on this year and deliver even more adrenalin fuelled racing action. Is there a new team in any class that will be racing on Dunlop s for the first time next year that you are excited about working with? For motorcycle racing the challenge for 2010 will be to satisfy the requirements of the Moto 2 Grand Prix class as it develops. We will be working with many teams we have worked with before but the machines in the new class have not had much testing time so far. I think that we will see these machines evolving very quickly so we will have to work hard to satisfy the teams and riders within the new tyre regulations. What has been the defining moment in motorsport for you in 2009 that really stands out as a shining example of Dunlop s involvement and dedication to racing? For me one of the defining moments of the year came at the Bol d Or 24 hour race at Magny Cours. At the start of the season our development partner Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (SERT) decided that they could not complete in the full series. At the same time Michelin decided to re-engage in Endurance racing with a very aggressive, well funded effort. At the season opening Le Mans 24 hour race in April. Michelin won the race with their new development partner Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART) this was the first time we had lost this race since Following our post-race debrief we identified with SERT the areas of tyre and motorcycle performance we needed to jointly improve to be competitive at their next race, the Bol d Or. Throughout the late spring and summer we had a number of tests with SERT developing new tyre profiles, new constructions, new slick compounds and new wet tyres. In the run up to the Bol d Or Michelin had a huge PR build up eventually bringing many of their top European motorcycle customers to the event and telling the specialist press that the result was not in doubt they were going to win! The race event itself did not go the way they had anticipated. Although they were fastest in practice and qualifying, in the race itself we were fully competitive and eventually won with SERT setting a record race distance (over 800 laps) in the process. All of our motorsport team design, manufacturing and the service team played a major part as we developed and tested new tyres, then produced, at very short lead time the full race quantities for the event. In the final analysis not only did we win the race we also delivered a major upset to one of our fiercest global competitors and showed just what we are capable of.

25 Ground breaking. The new Geomax MX51. / Features race-honed and patented geomax reinforced pattern and unique tie-bar design for toughness and chunking resistance / High density polyester carcass allows lower tire pressures and hence larger footprint yet still retains sidewall stability / multi-polymer compounds for longevity and adhesion throughout the whole life of the tire OE TYRE FITTING INFO The latest additions to the OE tyre fitting market for Dunlop include Roadsmart tyres for the Honda VT1300CS for the US, Canadian, Australian and Japanese markets giving it a 50% marketshare. From February 2010 Dunlop will also provide OE tyre fitting for the Honda CB1100 in USA, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Brazilian, Korean, New Zealand, South African and all European markets.