Dunlop team Greaves Motorsport took victory in the LMP2 class in the 79^th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours as the highlight of a strong week for Dunlop Motorsport in one of the world’s most gruelling races on June 11-12.

The Greaves #41 Zytek Nissan crossed the finish line eighth overall as well as winning its class by six laps with drivers Karim Ojjeh, Tom Kimber-Smith and Olivier Lombard. Dunlop tyres also adorned the LMP2 second in class #26 Signatech Nissan and the GTE Pro third finishing #56 BMW Motorsport M3 GT.

Dunlop tyres ran on 17 of the 56 cars at the 79^th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. Dunlop tyres completed a total of 3868 laps, approximately 52,444 kilometres or 32,587 miles during the course of the race. Dunlop brought 4500 tyres to Le Mans, in 10 tyre trailers with 36 service personnel.

“As always, the Le Mans 24 Hours is a race full of drama,” said Jean-Felix Bazelin, Dunlop Motorsport’s General Manager.

“Firstly we must say we are thankful that no-one was hurt in the accidents we saw this weekend, which remind us of the dangers of motor racing.

“In the LMP2 we scored a fantastic win with Greaves Motorsport. Their car was not the fastest in the class – that honour goes to the Signatech Nissan which took pole with Dunlop tyres – but Greaves showed that Le Mans is about spending the least amount of time possible in the pits and we congratulate them for this.

“Signatech finished a fine second, and were it not for problems they encountered they certainly had the speed to win the class. In GTE Pro we showed strong pace once more with pole position from the #55 BMW, but this race showed that speed is not everything as they had problems through the race. The #56 BMW scored a podium finish for our tyres so I am happy, though not as happy as if we had achieved the win, which was certainly possible.

“Unfortunately, our challenge in the LMP1 category ended early through technical problems for our teams. We were quick in this class and I am happy that our tyres worked well across all our cars and we are at least a match for the opposition. In GTE Am we also put on a strong showing.

“This year’s race was a very difficult one. In the first half there were two substantial safety car periods which lasted over three hours with the cars running at slow speeds, causing low tyre temperatures and tyre pressures. This was followed on Sunday by rain showers which made tyre choice very difficult.

“Our tyres lasted very well across all categories here in Le Mans, delivering strong and consistent performance.

“For Dunlop, our key message from our motor racing activities is that we translate the lessons learnt on the track to the technology employed in our road tyres. Durability and consistent performance are requirements of our road users and racing teams alike, and we have demonstrated our strengths in these areas once more in this most difficult of test tracks.”

Team quotes:

Tom Kimber-Smith, driver – #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan:

“Dunlop provided us with great tyres all week and the potential was there in qualifying to get pole position, but it was my mistake which meant we qualified in seventh, otherwise it would have certainly been in the top three. In the race, Dunlop’s tyres were faultless. We had no punctures which is quite unusual, especially as I was the next car through after both big Audi crashes. I ran over a lot of debris and didn’t get a single puncture. Right at the end of the race with the light rain I went on to intermediates and even though it was drying up, it wasn’t quite hot enough or dry enough to use the slicks. The intermediates were faultless even though it wasn’t perfect conditions for them. We treble stinted from the start and had there been no safety car periods I think we could have done quadruple stints, Dunlop’s tyres were that strong.”

Franck Mailleux, driver – #26 Signatech Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan:

“Our race pace was really good and Dunlop provided us with fast and consistent tyres so we were able to fight the opposition strongly. In qualifying we had fantastic pace then in the race we were unlucky with the amount of debris on track which did cause us two punctures, but we saw many punctures in this race as the track was very dirty with many crashes taking place. In the damp conditions I was able to push hard, even when following LMP1 cars. The warm-up from the tyres was very good and you could push straight away which was great for confidence especially after the safety car periods. I’m very happy with the tyre Dunlop provided.”

Andy Priaulx, driver – #56 BMW Motorsport BMW M3 GT:

“We had the pace to win which is a strong positive from today. Overall our Dunlop tyres were reliable and gave us good pace and with a bit more experience I think we could do even better. Being critical I think that we needed to change a few things on the strategy with our compounds, but you are always learning with racing so maybe next year we’ll make some slightly different choices. In the race we didn’t make many mistakes and that’s what gets you on the podium, unfortunately we had a few little technical issues, but we had the pace to win and we take a lot of confidence from that.”