Falken Owners Weighing Up Dunlop N24 Livery Change

The future of the Falken livery in the Nürburgring 24 has been plunged into doubt by parent company Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ shift in focus towards the Dunlop brand as part of a recently announced corporate rebranding strategy.

Through its partnership with Schnabl Engineering to enter a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 Rs under the Falken Motorsports banner, Falken has had a major presence in both the N24 and the Nürburgring Endurance Series in recent years.

The tire brand’s two-tone sky blue and blue coloring has become an established fan favorite, having also been seen on Toyota, Nissan and BMW machinery on the Nordschleife since its debut in the 1999 edition of the Eifel classic.

However, Sumitomo’s decision to prioritize Dunlop as its main premium brand moving forward, with all of its global operations now assuming the British marque’s name, has led to suggestions that the Falken livery could soon be a thing of the past.

On Wednesday, Sumitomo announced that all its global communications will in future be carried out using the Dunlop brand, and that its German subsidiary Falken Tyre GmbH will be renamed Dunlop Tyre Europe GmbH as part of this effort.

While the Falken brand will continue to be used, it will be positioned below Dunlop as a mid-price product, with a new budget brand set to come in beneath that in future.

As such, Sumitomo is weighing up whether to rebrand its N24 effort accordingly in a move that could see Falken blue give way to Dunlop yellow. A mock-up of a Porsche in Dunlop colors was on display at a press conference held in Tokyo on Wednesday.

However, a split strategy is also understood to be under consideration – this would entail keeping one 911 GT3 R in Falken colors and switching the other to Dunlop livery.

Falken’s sponsorship deal with the N24 itself, which was extended through 2028 last year, is thought to be unaffected.

Sumitomo’s rebranding strategy follows its acquisition of the rights to use the Dunlop name across Europe, North America and Oceania from Goodyear at the start of the year.

Goodyear previously phased out Dunlop from its motorsport activities in Europe, including in the FIA World Endurance Championship, in favor of using its own name.

Sumitomo has long since owned the Dunlop brand in its home market of Japan, and has been active in SUPER GT since the series’ inception as the JGTC in the 1990s.

As well as the two Schnabl-run Porsches, Falken also supplied Subaru’s factory effort in the SP4T class in last year’s running of the N24, as well as Max Kruse Racing (AT3), Team Bilstein by Black Falcon (SP8T) and SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (VT2).