Dunlop tyres take to the relentless and gruelling challenge that is the Le Mans 24 Hours for the 79th running of the world renowned event which takes place on June 11-12.

The high speed part public road, part race circuit 13.63km course gives Dunlop’s tyres multiple challenges, in particular with its high speed straights, whilst the 24 hours of the race mean that weather conditions can vary making tyre choice crucial, and tyre strategy is a vital factor in the race.

The Le Mans 24 Hours features as the third round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, but it’s as a stand-alone event that it made its name which resonates around the world and makes its impression as one of the world’s best known sporting events.

“Le Mans is the highlight of our car racing season and the peak of Dunlop Motorsport’s four wheel motorsport programme,” says Dunlop Motorsport’s General Manager, Jean-Felix Bazelin.

“It’s a long race with high ambitions for many people – dreams are made and dreams are broken there. For the teams and their cars it’s a fine line between having sufficient performance to go fast enough, and being reliable enough to finish the 24 hours.

“When we consider the tyres for this event we are mindful that the course is very long; one lap of Le Mans is like two laps of another circuit. It’s semi-permanent in nature so we have to contend with a track surface which is dirty from the cars, motorcycles and lorries which have used it right up to the week of the race.

“This means that the track surface features roadside debris as well as having standard tyre compounds on it. Equally there is a non-public road section meaning there are different surfaces to contend with. On the public road section, different elements are repaired when necessary so there are a variety of surfaces there too.

“It’s a high speed track with over 300kph attained approximately three times during the straights and in the quickest corner, Indianapolis. This high speed means high stress for the tyres as today’s prototypes produce very high levels of downforce, which means high loads on the tyres. For this we need to ensure that the structural integrity of the tyre is faultless.”

As the race goes on for 24 hours, determining when to change tyres is a crucial factor in the equation of how to complete the race duration at the fastest speed.

“In regards to tyre strategy for the race there are many tough decisions for teams to make, and there are many performance considerations too,” explains Bazelin.

“The latest regulations, with two team members allowed to change the tyres, means that there is a greater performance advantage than before from running multiple stints on the same set. Last year at Le Mans we saw a lot of double and triple stints on Dunlop tyres so I am confident that we are well placed for this year.

“Driving style, how the car is set-up and makes use of the tyres, all these are important aspects that teams must consider when evaluating their strategies.”

It’s not only how teams use the tyres, it’s how well those tyres can perform on the track, something that Dunlop dedicates a lot of development time towards.

“Le Mans is not such a difficult circuit in tyre engineering terms with regards to its layout, it’s more difficult with regards to its high speed and the loads,” says Bazelin. “You need to have a very balanced car, not only for the circuit layout, but to enable the drivers to deliver fast and consistent lap times over the course of 24 hours’ racing.

“For Dunlop participating in this adventure in the LMP1 class we have two strong petrol-powered teams with the two cars of Oak Racing and the one car of Quifel-ASM. Whilst they will be hard pushed to beat the factory diesel opposition of the Audis and Peugeots, I think we should show well against the other petrol runners in this class.

“In LMP2 we have high expectations as we have many strong cars in this category, but there is also strong opposition which should mean an exciting battle in prospect. Of the many teams and constructors in this category none have emerged as favourite, so it is very open.

“In GTE Pro we have two very different cars and approaches. With our technical partner BMW we have a manufacturer team and with JMW we have a very successful customer team showing of the new Dunlop Art livery for us.

“I wouldn’t bet on one versus the other here. It’s always been a competitive category in its previous guise so I expect the same this year. We have seen that the Porsches can always be strong and there are other strong opponents too.

“In GTE Am we have the Aston Martin Gulf, the Krohn Ferrari and the JMB Racing Ferrari with the first two squads certainly having experienced driver line-ups.

“Ultimately, the question that everyone wants to know is who will win? Probably a diesel in the overall standings, but there is still a great uncertainty of who exactly that will be as it is such a fantastic human adventure. Not only are the drivers operating at the extreme, but the mechanics and other team personnel are all at the limit too. It is a pleasure and a rewarding challenge for Dunlop to be part of this.”

Dunlop supplies teams in the LMP1, LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am categories at Le Mans.

Dunlop supplied teams:

LMP1

#15 Oak Racing Pescarolo-Judd ILMC
Guillaume Moreau / Pierre Ragues / Tiago Monteiro

#24 Oak Racing Pescarolo Judd ILMC
Richard Hein / Jacques Nicolet / Jean-Francois Yvon

#20 Quifel ASM Team Zytek 09SC LMS
Miguel Amaral / Olivier Pla / Warren Hughes

LMP2

#26 Signatech Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan ILMC
Franck Mailleux / Lucas Ordoñez / Soheil Ayari

#35 Oak Racing Pescarolo-Judd ILMC
Andrea Barlesi / Frederic Da Rocha / Patrice Lafargue

#36 RML HPD ARX-01d ILMC
Mike Newton / Tommy Erdos / Ben Collins

#40 Race Performance Oreca 03-Judd LMS
Michel Frey / Ralph Meichtry / Marc Rostan

#41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMS
Karim Ojjeh / Tom Kimber-Smith / Olivier Lombard

#44 Extreme Limite AM Paris Norma M200P-Judd LMS
Fabien Rosier / Philippe Haezebrouck / Jean-Rene de Fournoux

#49 Oak Racing Pescarolo Judd BMW LMS
Shinji Nakano / Nicolas de Crem / Jan Charouz

GTE Pro

#55 BMW Motorsport BMW M3 ILMC
Augusto Farfus / Jörg Müller / Dirk Werner

#56 BMW Motorsport BMW M3 ILMC
Andy Priaulx / Dirk Muller / Joey Hand

#66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari F458 Italia LMS
Rob Bell / Tim Sugden / Xavier Maasen

#79 JOTA Aston Martin Vantage LMS
Sam Hancock / Simon Dolan / Chris Buncombe

GTE AM

#57 Krohn Racing Ferrari F430 ILMC
Tracy Krohn / Nic Jönsson / Michele Rugolo

#60 Gulf AMR Middle East Aston Martin Vantage ILMC
Fabien Grioix / Roald Goethe / Michael Wainwright

#83 JMB Racing Ferrari F430
Manuel Rodrigues / Jean-Marc Menahem / Nicolas Marroc

Q&A with #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrrai F458 Italia driver, Rob Bell.

Driving the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrrai F458 Italia, resplendent in the yet to be unveiled Dunlop Art Car Competition livery will be experienced Le Mans peddler, Rob Bell. Here the British driver answers the questions ahead of the 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

How do you as a driver make your decisions for the race with regards to the tyre considerations?

Experience helps and you make the choices based on whenever the information has shown after the last practice session which takes place on Thursday afternoon. That is when you start to think about whether you are near the ballpark in terms of set-up for the race. The sessions are pretty important so you don’t get led up the garden path.

Another aspect to factor in is the weather conditions as it can vary a lot during the course of a 24 hour race. In the heat of the day you will be looking at a different compound of tyre than during the night. We tested two compounds at Spa when it got cooler and one of them stood out as being good so we think we have found a nice tyre for the night. Hopefully we’ll have a good one for when its warmer during the day time as well.

When you look at the race, how do you decide about the number of stints? Is it done in advance or a bit on the fly as the race goes on?

It’s quite structured. Beforehand I sit down with my engineer at JMW, and he’ll come up with a run sheet saying you’ll start, you’ll be second and you’ll be third. That will generally stay as the rotation throughout. In the night-time you can mix it up a little bit so you get six hours off at best. If it’s hot, we’ll single stint until it gets cooler but in the night we will look to double stint the tyres and the drivers. At some point in the night you can do a double stint but then you’ll have a double stint off.

What that means is you are giving one guy six hours rest. In a perfect world, everyone gets six hours off at some point but then you are back into the car the next day with more rest when it’s warm again. We’re structured going into the race so it isn’t like half way in the race we’ll think ‘Rob needs to stay in the car because of x, y and z’. We are all professionals and we have the run plan and we’ll stick to it – that is the best and most efficient way of doing it. It’s 95 percent set in stone before the race starts.

With it being such a long course, do you look at it the same way as any other circuit when it comes to set-up or do you need a bigger operation window?

The unique thing with Le Mans is there are four huge straights so it’s all about how much aero you put on. You can lose a lot of time in the Porsche Curves and also in places like Tetre Rouge and Dunlop Curves – the quick corners – so the consideration is do you go for straight-line speed on the straights or put a bit more wing on to be quick in the corners?

At Le Mans, you usually go for straight-line speed as it’s easier to pass on the straights. If you can get through the corners relatively quickly and then be fast on the straights, that is the way forward. It’s unique to Le Mans because on other circuits you have maybe one or two long straights and at Le Mans there are four. That is the consideration – which way do you go? We have to see when we get there as there are new regs this year to slow GT2 cars down so we need to make a judgement call.

We’ll also check the weather as if it will be wet you’ll keep the wing on for more stability through the corners, but we’ll make the call on Thursday afternoon in the final test.

How difficult is it not being the fastest cars on track and having a big difference in speed to the LMP1 cars?

GT2 is a difficult one because in a perfect world you’d be at the front and checking your mirrors every once in a while. In reality in GT2, you are checking your mirrors as much as you are looking forwards. Going into the corner you look, coming out of the corner you look, mid-way through the corner you look as the LMP1 cars are so quick. You have to be on your guard all the time but Le Mans is probably the easiest place for it because it is so big. If you go to a small circuit like Imola for example, where we go after Le Mans, there will be 60 cars but it’s half the length. Le Mans is hard but in terms of what we are used to, it’s relatively easy.

Half the job in GT2 is looking behind you and you have to know your bearings. That is where a professional driver comes into his own as you have to have the mental capacity to do your thing at 100 percent and deal with anything the race throws at you, but at the same time have the awareness of what is going on around you.

There is no point doing 23 and a half hours and then turning in on a car coming through, you have to be on it all the time and that is the biggest challenge. It isn’t set-up, it’s keeping your wits about you for 24 hours; that will be the key. You’ll find a tenth from changing a damper or half a second from changing a rear wing. But it’s all irrelevant if you get hit. You have to keep concentration levels up.

People who haven’t done Le Mans don’t understand that it’s not only the 24 hours of the race, it’s the whole week. So how do you keep concentration levels up and not get tired?

It’s what we do for a living so you get used to it. If you come in out of the cold without doing an endurance event then you will struggle. But if you have done them for a while and you are fit and focused, it isn’t a problem. Once you are into the race it can get tiring if it’s hot but adrenaline gets you through. You make sure you rest and then you have a quick shower before getting in the car to keep you fresh.

The only problem for the drivers is if it’s hot, but even then the guys who do the real work are the mechanics who are on their feet from when we get to the track at 8am on the Saturday morning and then don’t leave until Sunday evening. They have the hardest job in terms of tiredness.

Who are your main class rivals?

Everyone! It’s an awesome field, it always is. You have two works Corvettes who are strong, two works BMWs who are also strong and also on Dunlops. Ferrari will be strong and there are the Porsches, who won last year and are excellent at Le Mans. Take your pick from any of those as there are ten cars that are capable of winning at Le Mans.

There will be a little bit of luck and a little bit of judgement but if you can stay out of the pits, you are almost guaranteed to be in the top four or five, and with some luck you’ll be on the podium. Going back to the tyres, we’ve been strong all year and Dunlop are probably the most competitive they’ve ever been going into Le Mans – certainly in the time I’ve been around. I have every confidence that the tyres will perform equally as well if not better than anything else, so it might be down to us and BMW.

Your car will carry the Dunlop Art Car livery designed by the winner of the Dunlop Livery Competition. Have you seen it yet?

No, not yet.

How do you feel about that – it could be pink with flowers on it?

I quite like the idea actually! I’ll see it when the covers come off in at the launch on the circuit by the Dunlop Bridge so I’ll see it when everyone else does. In years gone by, the winners have done a great job and it’s something different – which spices things up. I’m sure it will be a cracking design.

Le Mans 24 Hours action gets underway with free practice and qualifying practice sessions on Wednesday 8 June and Thursday 9 June, followed by the race start on Saturday 11 June at 15:00 local time.

~ends~

Media / Photographer call: Dunlop Art Car unveiling – Friday June 10, 16:15.

Dunlop will unveil the Dunlop Art Car, designed by the winner of the Dunlop Livery Competition underneath the iconic Dunlop Bridge at 16:15 local time on Friday June 10.

All media and photographers are invited to see the exciting livery on the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia which will be driven by Rob Bell, Tim Sugden and Xavier Maasen. Team personnel and drivers will be available for interview until 17:00.