The 2016 Aston Martin Vantage GTE features significantly different bodywork to its predecessor, which won the 2015 Six Hours of Spa Francorchamps. This is designed to improve aerodynamic performance and the Dunlop Sport Maxx racing tires will be developed to maximize this by providing improved high speed stability and traction.
The FIA World Endurance Championship includes the Le Mans 24 Hours, a race where Dunlop has more overall wins (34) than any other tyre company, but more recently has seen Dunlop focus their development work on the ultra-competitive LMP2 prototype category, winning the class for the last five years. Dunlop have considerable recent experience in the GTE category, being the choice of the championship winners in the 2010 and 2011 American Le Mans Series and 2012 European Le Mans Series.

The Technical Partnership will also include the Nürburgring 24h where Dunlop will supply their GT3 specification tires to support Aston Martin’s goal to win the Nordschleife endurance marathon. Dunlop was the choice of the 2015 VLN Speed Trophy Champions at the Nürburgring Nordschleife and has applied learnings from this GT3 success to their 2016 tire range.

Explaining the switch to Dunlop tyres, Dan Sayers, Technical Director of Aston Martin Racing, stated: “The 2016 V8 Vantage GTE is a greatly improved package all-round and I’m extremely pleased that Dunlop have joined us as the team’s official tire supplier to complete it. The team is thoroughly confident heading into this season and I firmly believe that the Dunlop Sport Maxx is the perfect tire to help us achieve the results we desire. We look forward to working closely with the Dunlop team throughout the 2016 FIA WEC season and also at the Nürburgring 24hrs, where we’ll be competing with the V12 Vantage GT3”.

Xavier Fraipont, Managing Director, Dunlop Motorsport Europe, explained the importance of the Aston Martin Racing Technical Partnership: “We have been intensively developing our Sport Maxx GTE and GT3 racing range in recent years. This led to us being appointed as Official Tire Supplier to the European Le Mans Series GT class last year and winning the Nürburgring VLN Speed Trophy. The next step in our ambitious plans was to return to the forefront of open-tire competition in the FIA World Endurance Championship. We share the same goals and objectives as Aston Martin Racing and we are looking forward to working extremely closely with the team to achieve success together.”