As drivers and teams prepare for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Dubai race, Dunlop, the tyre manufacturer is preparing to fulfil its vital role in proceedings at their busiest event of the year. The company is the sole tyre supplier for the entire grid at the race, which begins on Friday and finishes on Saturday.
More than 7,000 tyres have been shipped to the Dubai Autodrome ahead of the event and a total of 38 Dunlop engineers and support staff will travel to the event to provide assistance to the teams with fitting and engineering advice.
Gary Wassell, a Dunlop spokesman, said: “This is our biggest event in terms of numbers of cars and a great way to start the new year.
“Winning in open competition ‘tyre war’ events such as Dunlop did this year in Nurburgring 24-hour and FIA World Endurance helps us develop tyres for one brand events, such as Dubai, where we also try to give a balance of performance across the whole grid.”
Wassell said the main objective for Dunlop was to produce a racing tyre that gives no advantage to one particular team.
“History suggests we’ve got it right as no one make of car has dominated,” he said.
“Technically it’s quite difficult to provide tyres that give no advantage to a particular brand but we think we have shown that we’ve done a good job by the close finishes.
“In the last two years the top four have been no more than six laps apart but we’ve not skimped on performance either.”
sport@thenational.ae