The Nürburgring VLN endurance racing championship kicks off this Saturday, March 23, with the first event of the 2019 season. Dunlop has a great history on the legendary Eifel circuit, including two outright wins in 2018. This year, over 50 teams have chosen Dunlop tyres for the toughest racetrack in the world.
Dunlop continues its long partnership with Phoenix Racing who will enter the 4-hour race with two Audi R8 LMS racers. In addition, Dunlop has been chosen as the partner for the much-anticipated comeback of Zakspeed on the Nordschleife. The experienced team, with a long history in touring car, F1 and endurance racing celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year. They will enter a thundering Chrysler Viper GT3-R.
The Racing One team aims to build on the outstanding success of last year: the Dunlop-tyred Ferrari 458 dominated the class SP8 for production based supercars, winning every race.
Dunlop is the exclusive supplier of the TCR class
For 2019, the popular TCR (Touring Car) class teams race exclusively on Dunlop. A diverse mix of cars, including the Audi RS3 LMS, Honda Civic, Hyundai i30 N, Opel Astra, Cupra and Volkswagen Golf GTI will run on Dunlop’s latest 265/660 R18 TCR specification tyre
Dunlop is also focused on the burgeoning GT4 class in the world’s largest sportscar series. “In the past two years, the GT4 class had a single tyre supplier” says Alexander Kühn, Dunlop Product Manager Motorsport Europe. “Now this category is open to all tyre manufacturers and we are proud to have been chosen by leading teams. We look forward to the open competition with the competitors.” GT4 cars such as BMW M4, Porsche Cayman or Aston Martin Vantage run in a specification that is close to the road car equivalent. At the start of the VLN, teams including Sorg Racing and Ring Racing have chosen Dunlop for their front-running BMW M4.
Premiere of the BMW M240i Racing Cup
In the VLN and the 24h race, Dunlop has extended its partnership with BMW Motorsport. In the BMW Cup class, all cars are equipped with Dunlop. Since 2014, the class of the BMW M235i Racing has been one of the best-supported and most competitive classes in the VLN. This year, the BMW M235i Racing Cup will evolve into the newly-named BMW M240i Racing Cup thanks to an upgrade package. For the first VLN race, 16 BMW M240i teams have submitted their entries.
Dunlop supports the “Care for Climate” team with musician ‘Smudo’
German rapper, Smudo, will again enter a team of three Dunlop-equipped Porsche. He will also be behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the “Alternative Fuels” class, in which a Porsche Cayman GT4 CS of the Care for Climate team also competes. His team is completed by another Cayman in the standard production class.
