The Campeonato Español de Velocidad (CEV Series) is the traditional Spanish national championship, dating back to the days of rough street circuits through the towns. In the past two decades, the championship has grown far beyond its origins, to become the most important national championship in the world.

CEV is a major recruiting school for international stars making their way towards MotoGP; and a talent pool second to none.

The change began in the early 1990s, when MotoGP rights-holders Dorna encouraged the Spanish federation to throw the national championship open to international riders. Almost at once high-level riders took advantage of the opportunity. These included riders already taking part in GPs, and it lifted the standard of competition to a truly international level.

In 1993, for example, German rider Dirk Raudies won both the 125cc World Championship and the CEV title in the same class.

Dunlop has played its own important part in Spanish racing since the street-circuit days, and continues to be an integral part of the new high-level paddock.

Run over seven rounds, the CEV series uses the same circuits as MotoGP, at Aragon, Catalunya, Jerez and Valencia, adding rounds at Albacete for the well-subscribed entry lists.

As well as training riders, the series was also used as a trial run for Moto2, the all-new control-tyre grand prix class introduced in 2010, with Dunlop the sole supplier for the fully fledged World Championship series.

The CEV championship runs three classes: 125 GP, Stock Extreme, and Moto2. Dunlop plays an active part in Stock Extreme, and dominates the smallest class.