Dunlop riders and drivers celebrate glorious June success
Dunlop riders and drivers celebrate glorious June success
- Dunlop riders take four 1-2 finishes at Isle of Man
- Jackie Chan DC Racing wins LMP2 & takes second overall at Le Mans 24h
- Aston Martin wins GTE Pro at Le Mans 24h
- Multiple Le Mans records broken on Dunlop tyres
- Dunlop claims 12 podium caps across all solo classes at TT
- John McPhee secures podium number two
- Daley Mathison second at Cock o’the North
While the UK basks in sunshine thanks to heatwave temperatures marking the hottest for 40 years, it was also a scorching June for Dunlop riders and drivers across motorsport’s headline events. June celebrated two of the biggest events on the motorsport calendar, the Isle of Man TT and the Le Mans 24 Hours, both of which feature open tyre competition.
The TT, held on 37.73 miles of closed public roads, is key to Dunlop’s development of its road tyres, and provided Dunlop-shod riders with 12 podium caps across five solo classes. Ian Hutchinson returned to the tyre company on which he claimed a record five wins in one week back in 2010. This year’s TT saw the Tyco BMW rider open his account with victory in the Superbike TT, and followed that up with a win in Superstocks.
Michael Dunlop continued his support of Dunlop’s KR106/KR108 slick tyres, but with a brand new bike, the Suzuki GSX-R1000, on which he secured victory in the blue riband Senior TT, as well as using the road-going tyres on his Supersport Yamaha, to take his winning tally to 15, and a staggering 102 road race victories.
Bruce Anstey led a podium lock-out in the all-electric TT Zero, leading his Mugen team-mate Guy Martin, and Daley Mathison to a Dunlop 1-2-3. Across the event Peter Hickman was awarded the Joey Dunlop trophy, after securing five podium finishes across the five solo combustion-engined classes, all on Dunlop tyres.
The following week, Dunlop drivers delivered a double overall podium at Le Mans, when Ollie Jarvis and and the British-based Jota Sport-run Jackie Chan DC Racing swept to second overall and first in the LMP2 class using all three compounds of Dunlop’s slick tyres. The overall podium was completed by the sister LMP2 Jackie Chan Oreca of Alex Brundle. The top nine LMP2 finishers chose to compete on Dunlop tyres.
The continuing partnership between Dunlop and Aston Martin rewarded the team’s line-up including Britons Darren Turner and Jonny Adam, along with Dunlop test and development driver Daniel Serra, with victory for the Vantage in GTE Pro.
Dunlop’s Le Mans 24 Hours 2017 is one to remember with records broken, overall race laps led, and overall podiums in addition to the more typical class wins and podiums, in a race where track temperatures exceeded 50 degrees towards the end of the race tested cars and drivers.
In the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car and FIM Moto2 and Moto3 championships Dunlop is the one-make control tyre, where all teams run the same option tyres across their championships. This requires the experienced Dunlop personnel to work closely with teams, riders and drivers, to ensure optimum set-up across two and four wheels.
Briton John McPhee aboard the British Talent Team Honda goes into the summer break with two podium finishes under his belt in 2017, most recently third in the Moto3 race at Assen TT last month. In the BTCC, defending champion Gordon Shedden currently holds the top spot as the series holds its summer break, but it’s Northern Ireland’s Colin Turkington who’s had the most wins this year, with three to his credit in the WSR BMW.
Daley Mathison continued his run of success, finishing second in the open race at Cock o’the North at Oliver’s Mount. Heading straight to Scarborough from the IOM TT, the BMW racer also powered his machine to the second ever fastest lap.