Possibly the hottest debate on

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1 IN TOUCH Motorsport news Dunlop SP600, the fastest Runflat tyre around the Ring FOUR wheels Two wheels LE MANS SERIES The first race in the LMS resulted in podium finishes for Dunlop shod cars in LMP2, GT1 and GT2 classes. > page 2 GP250 - gp125 The MotoGP season got off to a wet start for both GP250 and GP125 in Qatar and Japan. > page 5 Issue two april 09

2 Four wheel NEWS Le MANS nurburgring Dunlop SP600 shod Nissan GT-R improves Nordschleife record Nissan GT-R flies around the Ring Possibly the hottest debate on car weblogs and fora in the last few months is the legitimacy of the Nissan GT-R lap time of around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, set back in May Porsche, long established record holders for production cars around the Nordschleife, tried to repeat the time set by Nissan in their own GT-R. They couldn t. But there was one significant difference between the attempts: Nissan fitted the Dunlop SP600 tyre homologated for Europe and Japan, while Porsche used another homologated tyre from a competitor brand. Nissan stated this was the one of the main reasons why Porsche s attempt failed - a very nice compliment for Dunlop indeed! This month, Nissan s GT-R test team returned to the Ring to test the 2010 and V-spec models and invited a very select group of car media to take a look behind the scenes and witness a new Nordschleife time attack. On April 15, Nissan s chief test driver Toshio Suzuki shaved 1.5 seconds off, setting a new time at a jaw dropping with a 2010 model GT-R with (lighter) V- spec wheels. The lap time leaves the auto world dumbstruck, how can a large and 1740kg heavy road legal production car be that quick? Part of the secret of Godzilla s speed is in its efficiency, not wasting any of its 485ps to spinning, sliding or other pace-slowing antics. The Dunlop SP600 plays a crucial part in the GT-R s ability to get all of its power down. Right from the start of GT-R development, Dunlop has been a close partner, producing hundreds of different specifications to arrive at a cutting-edge SP600 Run-on-flat tyre that now sets the bar for all other tyre manufacturers around the Nordschleife. Chief GT-R engineer Katzutoshi Mizuno confirmed that the right front SP600 withstands over 6000 kg of load at the Ring, a value that normally only race tyres are exposed to. Besides tons of predictable grip, the wish list of Mizuno san also included a fair amount of comfort, as well as the Run-on-flat functionality. Dunlop s success is based on the transfer of technology from race to road, but the SP600 on the Nissan GT-R proves it works the other way around as well! The actual SP600 tyre after two record-setting laps at the Ring SP600 tyre stock at Nissan test facility Chief GT-R engineer Katzutoshi Mizuno > page 1

3 Four wheel NEWS Le In MANS Touch Mans Series LMS catalunya 1000km race The Dunlop-supported JMW Motorsport Ferrari team finished second in its class at the opening round of the five-race Le Mans Series, held in Barcelona at the beginning of April. British driver Rob Bell, and his Italian co-driver Gianmaria Bruni, finished the six hour race in second place after a fantastic battle with Porsche over the 1000km event. Dunlop contests three of these four classes, and achieved a podium finish in each at the opening rounds of the season. Servicing 13 of the 43 cars which took the start, Dunlop sent out a team of 22 personnel to fit the tyres, and liaise with the teams during the race weekend. Dunlop s 13 cars completed more than 9,000kms during the race alone, and used nearly 600 tyres of the 1950 brought to the track by the Birmingham based operation.. That figure included wet weather rubber which was not used during the race week. The JMW Ferrari completed 865km during the race, but suffered from high tyre wear on the abrasive track. A misfire during Friday s practice session limited running, and meant that the car did not have the ideal set-up heading into qualifying, or the race. We didn t have enough track time to do everything we wanted commented Dunlop s Matthew Simpson we made three or four little tweaks to the car set up before qualifying, but ran out of time to get the hard compound tested Bell and Bruni ran closely to the Porsche for much of the race, but as the temperatures rose in the final stint Bell lost time to the class leader, and a safety car came out in front of the Ferrari, which lost any chance of challenging for the win. I was giving it everything I had, but we were really struggling in the second stint, said Bell. It seemed to be that there was more rubber down, or the temperature went up, I don t know, but from the first stint when I was relatively comfortable in the lead, to the second stint, he passed me round the outside under braking into the first corner. The lack of testing was particularly costly in Barcelona as new rules for changing the wheels during the race came into force this year. Just two mechanics are allowed to take part in the procedure to change wheels, and just one wheel gun is used for all four wheels. That takes a lot of time, as teams are not allowed to change tyres while the car is being refuelled for safety reasons. Teams were therefore trying harder compounds and different constructions to make the tyres last longer. In addition, Ferrari has developed a new suspension system for the 430GT, and Dunlop has been working hard to find the right set-up for its tyres. On a very high downforce circuit like Barcelona, which boasts an abrasive surface yielding high grip levels, the lack of track time on Friday proved to be very costly. We have contingency plans, but we just didn t have time to do a race simulation says Simpson, who also oversaw the tyre development programme at the pre-season test in Paul Ricard in March We have a further test planned after the Spa race which should bring further improvement, so we are not too unhappy. The ASM team, running a Ginetta in the LMP2 class for pure racing cars, also finished second in class after having a wheel work its way loose during a race stint, and also a stall in the final pit stop proved costly as the car finished 46 seconds behind the winning car. The Ginetta achieved a distance of more than two stints, two and a half hours, on the same set of tyres before the performance dropped towards the end of the race, leading to that final stop. In the GT1 class, former French downhill ski champion Luc Alphand was unlucky to lose control of his Corvette while leading the GT1 class. The Frenchman spun into the gravel where he stayed for more than a lap, though he, and countrymen Patrice Goueslard and Yann Clairay did recover to finish second in the class. The second Le Mans Series race of five is to be held at Spa- Francorchamps on May 10th. JMW Ferrari Race Data Laps led: 66-74; ; laps led in total 186 laps covered, 865km Medium compound tyres DTM DTM SEASON KICKS-OFF IN Dusseldorf D TM stars up close, the impressive noise and spectacle of the fastest touring cars in the world and great weather in the city of Dusseldorf guaranteed a new record crowd for the traditional DTM presentation just prior to the start of the new season. The 10 round series will not only host the DTM races but also create the podium for the partner series Formula 3 Euro, Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland, ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup and SEAT Leon Supercopa. For the tenth consecutive year, Dunlop is supplying the tyres for the biggest and most popular international touring car series. And there are very good reasons for this long-standing partnership between the top-class works teams of Audi and Mercedes Benz and Dunlop. With just one slick and one wet tyre specification allowed for the whole season, the team of Dunlop engineers work in the closest collaboration with the drivers and team engineers, measuring more than 1000 parameters during each race weekend which are minutely analysed to define the optimum recommendations for suspension settings, tyre pressures, tyre warming and tyre management strategy for the individual 19 car race engineers. At the same time, the varied data that the motorsport specialists acquire every day of testing or racing, goes into the research, development and production not only of the next generation of racing tyres, but also the next generation of road tyres. Dunlop has called this continuous process, which ensures that every driver gets the best possible feedback from its tyres Touch Technology. It is no coincidence that Dunlop s high-performance tyres have the same name as the DTM competition tyres: Dunlop SP Sport Maxx. > page 2

4 Four wheel NEWS Le AMERICAN In MANS Touch Le Mans Series St. Petersburg / Long Beach Work continues to develop the Dunlop tyre for competition in the American Le Mans Series, after the Rahal Letterman BMW team scored two podium finishes in the second and third rounds at St Petersburg, Florida, and Long Beach in California this month. The races took place on street circuits and Dunlop s GT2 tyres, developed in conjunction with the BMW team, were on race-winning pace. At Long Beach on Saturday April 18, where drivers Dirk Muller and Tommy Milner finished third, the BMW s fastest lap was just one hundredth of a second slower than the class-winning Porsche. Dunlop is continuing its development programme with two tests in America this month, and a further test in Portugal in May should help the company s European teams ahead of the biggest race of the year, the Le Mans 24 hours, in June. The St. Petersburg street race was only one hour and 55 minutes long, and it was an eventful one for the BMWs. Bill Auberlen started from third place in his BMW M3, but at the pit stop to hand the driving duties to co-driver Joey Hand, the car refused to start and was retired. fourth after his team-mate s demise, and was up to third when he handed the car over to Muller. A stop to tighten a bolt on the suspension delayed the pair, but they soon were back into a podium position, and finished second in class, seventh overall. Two weeks later at a one hour, 40 minute race in California, Muller and Milner were again competitive, despite track temperatures of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The sister car of Auberlen and Hand scored its first points of the year with an eighth place finish following a collision with a car that was already a lap down. Muller and Milner ran strongly, but lost an estimated 14 seconds in traffic to the class leaders, and firmly believed they could have scored a better podium position. We are certainly happy to be on the podium for a second time, said team Principal Bobby Rahal. It is the best evidence of progress. It looked like we could have finished even better, but on a tight track like this it is very easy to lose time to slower traffic, even slower prototype class cars. Expectations are very high for this program said Martin Birkmann, BMW North America LLC Motorsports Manager and it s a great morale boost to see we have the car, the team and the tires. I want to thank our partners in Dunlop. They completed very strategic testing and a development plan that has born fruit. We were very strong on both sets of tires in and ultimately that has helped us in securing our first podium finishes MINI CHALLENGE MINI CHALLENGE STARTS GLOBAL RACE CAMPAIGN The Mini Challenge enters its eighth year in the UK with the usual high expectations of close racing, colourful cars and colourful characters. The challenge, which runs on Dunlop racing tyres, is made up of two classes. The Club class is based on the Mini Cooper, with 135bhp on tap, and running on Dunlop treaded race tyres complementing special race suspension. The S-Class is based on the Mini Cooper S, with more power up to 210bhp. These Minis run on Dunlop slick racing tyres, and have adjustable suspension, rear wing and big brakes. At the opening round of the British series at Rockingham Ollie GT OPEN ITALIAN RACE OPENER The first round of the 2009 International GT Open Championship took place at Imola on April 18/19 with a field of 32 cars, up from 29 last year. Dunlop is the exclusive tyre partner for the series that was created from the national Spanish GT Championship in Each event has two races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday and two classes; Super GT that follows FIA GT2 specifications and GTS, following FIA GT3. As expected the opening weekend saw another chapter in the Ferrari / Porsche duel at the top of the Super GT category whilst Ferrari, Lamborghini, Viper and Aston Martin all hoped for victory in GTS. The AE Ferrari F430 of Ruggia/ Ricci took a brilliant win in Saturday s race. The Ferrari F430 enjoyed a faultless performance keeping the Porsche teams, that had dominated qualifying and the first part of the race, at bay. For 2009 the races have an extended duration of 70 minutes which necessitate a refuelling stop. A 35 second delay in their pit stop robbed the Autorlando sport Mortimer won two of the three the Mini Cooper S class races, holding off Arthur Foster in the first race to win the 13 lap event. Having finished 1-2 in the opening round, the two fought again in the second of the day s races, and both survived a hit with a wall on the oval circuit to lead the 22 car field over the line. Defending champion Martin Depper took victory in the third race ahead of Mortimer after early leader House made a mistake, and then retired with a gear linkage problem. In the German version of the Mini Challenge, Daniel Haglof held off Hendrick Vieth by just two tenths of a second in the opening round at Hockenheim. Porsche of Roda/ Lietz of victory. Eventually they finished third behind the sister Porsche of the IMSA Performance team. Sunday s race started on a wet track behind the safety car, but it progressively dried out with some slippery patches remaining throughout. This time it was the Swiss Trottet Racing Ferrari that came out on top of another close race. Saturday s winner, the AE Ferrari team finished fourth and heads the championship table as the teams prepare for the second event at the Algarve circuit in Portugal on May 16/17. The Kessell Ferrari team of Peter and Broniszewski dominated both the GTS races. The Villois Aston Martin team celebrated two solid runner-up results. > page 3

5 2 two wheel wheel NEWS NEWS GP250 / GP125 QATAR / JAPAN GP125 Heavy rain played havoc with the night race schedule in Qatar, eventually causing the MotoGP race to be delayed by 24 hours by a combination of a flooded track and the visibility problems this created under the floodlights. Although the 125 race started in the dry, heavy rain brought the red flag out after just 4 laps, with race leader Andrea Iannone declared the winner and half points being awarded. The Italian Ongetta Team I.S.P.A rider started from third on the grid and spent the first four laps battling with Bancaja Aspar rider Julian Simon for the top spot before the red flag came down as he lead the race. Simon had started on pole, and though he crashed shortly after the red flag, he was still classified second and took ten points away from the round, 2.5 points behind the championship leader Iannone as they moved to Japan for round two. Sandro Cortese, Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith made up the top five. Weather played an even greater role in Japan, with tyre choice a critical factor for the riders as they came to the grid in Motegi last weekend. The track was fully wet, but the rain had stopped, and riders had to decide whether the advantage they would get in the first laps by choosing rain tyres would be negated in the latter part of the race if the track dried quickly. Danny Webb, Nico Terol, and Sandro Cortese chose the wet option. Webb in particular took full advantage and opened up a 9 second lead in the opening laps. Julian Simon, Pol Espargaro and the KTM rider Marquez chose intermediates, and this looked a good choice around half race with Simon taking the lead on lap 13 of 20. The remainder of the top riders had decided the track would dry sufficiently and had chosen slicks and in the last third of the race slick shod Andrea Iannone, who had started from pole, came through to pass Simon two laps from the finish, with Espargaro completing the podium. Webb s gamble hadn t paid off, the British rider falling back to 11th in the finalaps as the track dried completely. GP250 It was a frustrating kick-off to 2009 for the 2008 reigning 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli as the Italian rider reluctantly sat-out the first race of the season. A fall in training a week before the season opener resulted in a fractured Scaphoid wrist bone, The World Champion had received surgery to insert a metal screw in his wrist and after a few laps of warm up decided that it was better to sit out and recover properly rather than risk further injury. The unpredictable weather in Qatar meant the race was shortened to 13 laps. Hector Barbera took the chequered flag for the first victory of the 2009 season, the Spanish rider impressing with his first race following his back injury in Japan in Starting from fourth on the grid Pepe World Team rider Barbera got straight into a battle for the lead with Matteoni Racing s Jules Cluzel, who stayed with it for the race distance to take the first podium finish of his career, an impressive feat from a 13th place grid start. 125cc World Champion Mike de Meglio completed the podium in his debut 250cc race whilst Hiroshi Aoyoma (Scot Racing Team) and team-mate Raffaele de Rosa completed the top five. Hiroshi Aoyama gave his home crowd plenty to cheer in Motegi, the Japanese rider s Honda proving a match for the Aprilias throughout the weekend. However it was 2008 world champion Marco Simoncelli who started from pole, opening up a slight gap over Aoyama until being forced to pit on lap ten - the front wheel of his Gilera fractured after a heavy contact with a kerbstone. Alvaro Bautista was Aoyama s main threat, although a poor start from the front row meant he had to come through a strong group of riders, particularly his Mapfre Aspar team mate Mike de Meglio, Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi and Mattia Pasini. Second by lap 10, Bautista chased down Aoyama s two second advantage, until with six laps to go he passed the two-time MC ENDURANCE RACING LE MANS 24HRS The 2009 World Endurance Championship got underway in less than perfect conditions on the 18th April, with riders seeing some of the worst weather for years as they battled through the Le Mans circuit. Nearly 20 hours of heavy rain battered the Dunlop teams as they rode through the night chasing victory. The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team were the top placed Dunlop riders at the end of the tough season opener, Vincent Philippe, Barry Veneman and Guillaume Dietrich completed an impressive 716 laps Motegi race winner to take the front spot. Aoyama could do no more as Bautista built a five second cushion at the flag, the Japanese in second but 16 seconds ahead of third placed Team Toth Aprilia rider Mattia Pasini. The MotoGP teams have no time to rest before the first European race. Practice for the Spanish GP in Jerez starts just five days after the Japanese GP, andf everyone is hoping for three days of sun in the south of Spain this weekend, May 3. between them to take third place and climb onto the podium. The 2008 reigning world champions had managed to lead the race briefly before the heavy rains started, causing them to drop to second, and after a small crash they settled for third. They weren t the only Dunlop riders to score a top ten finish, Junior Team Suzuki CMF and the Qatar Endurance Racing Team took fifth and sixth places respectively in the standings. The championship now moves to the 8 Hours of Oschersleben, in Germany on the 31st May. > page 4 For more two wheel stories go to

6 2 two wheel wheel NEWS NEWS RACE CALENDAR may MotoGP: Jerez LMS: 1000km Spa-Francorchamps ALMS: Tooele GTOpen: Algarve DTM: Hockenheim BTCC: Donington park MotoGP: Le Mans AMA-SBK: Sonoma hrs of Nurburgring Mini Challenge: Silverstone DTM: Eurospeedway BTCC: Oulton Park MotoGP: Mugello MC Endurance: Oschersleben 8hrs Isle of Man TT Supermoto WC: Mallory Park AMA - Superbike Road Atlanta, Braselton Mat Mladin showed dominance in the AMA Pro American Superbike competition with another flag-to-flag race win. After the year s first five races Mladin is still undefeated but his performance at Road Atlanta was by far his most impressive of the year. Mladin led every lap in Saturday s 20-lap race and did the same thing again on Sunday to score a perfect clean sweep. While Mladin was cruising up front near the end, some of the best racing of the weekend took place for second place between Mladin s teammate Blake Young and local rider Geoff May. The pair swapped second several times before Young took the spot for good on the last lap. Mladin, who scored the 51st consecutive American Superbike win for Suzuki, now leads the championship standings with 157 points. Next up for AMA Pro Superbike is the Honda Superbike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park, May 1-3. FIM SUPERMOTO world championship viterbro Season kick-off european Superbike Superbike gets underway in eu Easter weekend traditionally sees the start of the national championships throughout Europe. With the opening rounds of the Spanish CEV and Italian CIV on April 19th followed a week later by the first IDM German round, the Dunlop service teams and engineers have been kept busy. The Spanish CEV is probably the biggest championship in Europe, attracting more than 95 entries for its three classes cc Formula Extreme, 600 Supersport and 125 GP. The seven round series opener at Albacete brought a clean sweep for Dunlop and Yamaha on the Formula Extreme podium on a wet and slippery track. Jose Luis Cardoso opened his title bid finishing 3.6 seconds ahead of Bernat Martinez with Carmelo Morales 16 seconds behind in a race which saw only 10 of the 19 riders classified as finishers! The 600 Supersport race was equally damp and very slippery; Angel Rodriguez (Yamaha/ Dunlop) finished two seconds ahead of Adrian Bonastre (Michelin) with Suzuki s Yonny Hernandez (Dunlop) completing the podium. Only 21 of the GP riders crossed the finish line in the wet conditions, Spaniard Louis VInales of the Aspar Aprilia team headed an all- Dunlop podium with Frenchmen Louis Rossi (KTM) and Clement Dunikowski completing the rostrum, the three separated by just 1,6 seconds at the flag. The next CEV round is at Jerez on June 7th. Rain caused the cancellation of the first races in the Italian CIV championship at Misano on April 19. Superbike, Superstock and Supersport are the three classes run in Italy, with Dunlop making an increased challenge in all three on Pirelli s home ground. A week after the Spanish and Italian races, the sun was out at the Lausitzring for the first of the eightround IDM German Championship. The Superbike field has been strengthened with the arrival of strongly supported KTM and BMW teams, but the Dunlop shod Yamaha of 2000 Supersport World Champion Jörg Teuchert won both races, holding off the Pirelli equipped KTM BMW and Honda riders. The Supersport class showed some close racing too. Christian Kellner s Dunlop shod Yamaha won the first of two races, giving him an early lead in the championship going into the race at Oschersleben on May 17th. As elsewhere, Dunlop dominated the 125 GP race in Germany, filling all the podium positions - giving Dunlop riders the lead in all three classes in the German IDM series. The first races of the 2009 World Supermoto Championship were fought under wet conditions last weekend for the Italian Grand Prix at Viterbo. It was a clear victory for the French, with Thierry Van Den Bosch taking the chequered flag in the S1 class and Adrien Chareyre taking the honours in the S2 class. 747 Motorsport TM Factory Racing s Thierry Van De Bosch took a convincing win in the first heat of S1, fighting off Husqvarna CH Racing s Thomas Chareyre for the duration of the race. Race two saw Van De Bosch overtaken by Chareyre s Husqvana team-mate and World Supermoto rookie Mauno Hermunen who held on to take the chequered flag and his first ever podium. Van De Bosch held on to second place, giving him the overall win on the day. The S2 class saw reigning 2008 World Champion Adrien Chareyre setting out where he left off last year with an impressive first round victory. Chareyre took the chequered flag in both heats. A crash in heat one between Superpole rider Iddon and Delepine gave Chareyre the opportunity to grab the holeshot. He then dominated the race and again in the second. Closest competition for the Husqvarna CH Racing rider came from 747 Motorsport TM Factory Racing rider Gozzini who gamely pursued Chareyre in race one, finally settling for third, and taking a second podium in heat two with a second place finish. The championship now moves to Mallory Park in the UK for round two on the 30th May. CONTACTS Jeremy Ferguson International Motorsport Manager, jeremy_ferguson@goodyear.com Dunlop Motorsport Division Dunlop Tyres Ltd Fort Dunlop Birmingham B24 9QT - United Kingdom Tel: fax: motorsport@dunloptyres.com > page5 For more two wheel stories go to