Dunlop Announced as ELMS Exclusive GTE, GTC Tire Partner

Dunlop, the most successful tire manufacturer in the 92-year history of the 24 Heures du Mans with 34 overall wins, has signed a three-year deal to be the exclusive tire supplier for the LM GTE and GTC categories in the European Le Mans Series. The company will also continue to supply tires to the LMP2 category for those teams that choose to use Dunlop.

In recent years, Dunlop have had notable success in ‘open competition’ GT racing as partners to the winners of the 2010 and 2013 Nürburgring 24hours, 2010 and 2011 American Le Mans Series GT2 class and 2012 European Le Mans Series Champions. In 2014, Dunlop continued to enjoy success by partnering the European Le Mans Series Champions, Signatech-Alpine.

This wealth of experience accumulated by winning at the highest levels of Endurance Racing will go into a new range of Dunlop Sport Maxx GT racing tires that are being developed for the 2015 European Le Mans Series. The objective is to develop a tire range that offers the parity, consistency and durability needed for a diverse range of LMGTE and GTC class cars.

“Dunlop and Le Mans are two leading brands that are linked through their achievements in the world of endurance,” said ACO President Pierre Fillon.

“Dunlop has won the 24 Heures du Mans overall 34 times in the history of the world’s greatest race and their experience of building tires for endurance racing will be of immense benefit to the teams competing in the ELMS. We are looking forward to the start of the 2015 season at Silverstone in April with interest.”

“As the most successful tire manufacturer in terms of overall wins in the Le Mans 24h race, it is an honor to extend our partnership with the ACO to become a partner to the European Le Mans Series,” added Jean-Felix Bazelin, Director, Dunlop Motorsport Operations. “We have many loyal customers in this championship and it has been a pleasure to see the championship rejuvenate and grow in recent seasons. We look forward to working proactively with the ACO to further raise the profile of this important and prestigious championship.”

“We welcome Dunlop as a full partner in the European Le Mans Series for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons and we look forward to developing our strong relationship even further as we move forward to the start of the 2015 season at the official test at Le Castellet in March,” said Gerard Neveu, CEO of ELMS.

“All competitors in the LMGTE and GTC categories will use Dunlop tires, which will give them the confidence and consistency of using a new range of tires from a world class manufacturer developed for endurance racing.”