NEWS: Dunlop Debut 2013 Le Mans Tyres @ Silverstone World Endurance Championship

As well as the new Type 991 RSR debuting at Silverstone for the World Endurance Championships (& European Le Mans Championships) later this month, Dunlop tyres will also be debuting their new rubber – following a Winter of "focused development and testing."

Dunlop currently dominates the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) LMP2 class – with eight of the 10 participants opting for the same brand that claimed the 2012 title and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the WEC forerunner, in 2011. The World Championship, which has the Le Mans 24h race

as its highlight, starts with a six-hour Race this Sunday 13th and 14th.

Dunlop says; "We have have specifically worked on developing compounds to improve warm-up

properties, which will be important for ELMS teams with tyre warmers now being prohibited. A new tyre shape has also been introduced for 2013, which optimises the tyre’s footprint, allowing lower running pressures and providing additional initial grip and consistency. The tyre improves grip

under braking and turn-in and gives better feedback to the driver. During testing at Aragon and Valencia, over 15,000 kilometres of testing was carried out on the new tyres with Dunlop’s LMP2 teams. Of the three compounds available for the WEC and ELMS races, the ‘medium’ and ‘hard’

slicks will be available for the Silverstone race along with full wets and an intermediate option."

Paul Bryant, Key Account Manager for Endurance Racing said: ""2013 is a big year for Dunlop with our 125th anniversary, our quest for hat-tricks at Le Mans and in WEC, and retaining the ELMS title. We have worked hard to evolve our tyres to make them not only perform better, but to give the drivers better feedback and confidence. We will continue to give our high level of support, working with our teams to give them the best chance of winning possible.”

Sexy slicks