Tyre manufacturer Dunlop Motorsport has won a host of new contracts to supply its products and technical support services to some of the most prestigious motorsport championships in the world.
Dunlop Motorsport has been chosen by nine teams for the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship, which began last weekend, with 3,500 tyres making the 4,000 mile journey from Birmingham to Florida for the Sebring 12 hour race.
The new championship brings the excitement of its famous headline event, the Le Mans 24 hours, to four continents in 2012 with new races in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and North America
The firm, based at the Fort Dunlop site in Erdington, has also been chosen by Renault Sport Technologies as the official tyre supplier for seven of the national Clio Cup racing championships in Europe.
That means Birmingham-made tyres will be exported to racing events in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Sweden as well as Bohemia Championship events in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
In motorcycle racing, Dunlop is the sole supplier to the brand new Moto3 Championship, which starts at the Qatar Grand Prix on April 15, with Dunlop having been chosen as sole supplier as a result of the company’s dominant success in the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix classes over the last decade, where Dunlop shod bikes won every single race.
These new business wins add to the tyre manufacturer being the choice of champions in both the American and European Le Mans Championships in 2011 and returning to both championships in 2012.
Jean-Felix Bazelin, general manager of Dunlop Motorsport, said: “These new contracts mean we will supply over 250,000 tyres over the course of the season to over 500 different racing teams across more than 30 different championships worldwide from our Birmingham centre of excellence.
“It represents nearly 10 per cent more tyres compared to last year, with Dunlop Motorsport proudly flying the flag for Birmingham’s manufacturing expertise in over 25 countries around the world.
“We have been in the business of making motor sport tyres, developing new technologies and building partnerships from this site for nearly 100 years.
“Advancing our technology has always been a priority, with the lessons we learn in the top tier professional motorsport events filtering down through amateur race categories and to Dunlop consumer road tyres.”
