Dunlop is South Africa’s circuit racing tyre of choice
What Dunlop Motorsport Update
Where Durban, South Africa
When Tuesday 7 March 2023
Community South Africa National
Dunlop Tyres has fundamentally grown its involvement across all South African circuit racing platforms over the past two years. Now the preferred tyre of no less than thirteen different championships at national, regional and club level, and in sprint and endurance series across the board, Dunlop slick and semi-slick rubber has become South Africa’s circuit racing tyre of choice.
Dunlop dominates the National Extreme Festival, with Global Touring Cars and the GTC SupaCup, CompCare Polo Cup and the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86 and Yaris Cups all racing on Dunlop tyres.
Dunlop motorsport participation drives its research and development of tyre technology for the public. This ensures that Dunlop tyres are made for safety, performance, stability and durability both on and off the track.
The Global Touring Cars battle it out on Dunlop SportMaxx 280/680R18 soft slick, or wet weather racing tyres. GTC SupaCup switches from slicks to Dunlop 245/650R18 semi-slick tyres for 2023, while CompCare Polo Cup races exclusively on Dunlop Direzza DZ03G 215.45R17 semi slick tyres. Both the Gazoo Yaris and GR86 Cups compete on Dunlop Direzza 225/40R18 H1 semi-slick rubber.
It’s a similar story in regional racing. Dunlop’s hugely popular, durable, and consistent Direzza semi slick makes for the closest and most competitive racing across several Regional Extreme Festival classes. The Gauteng Inland Pabar VW Challenge, Lotus Challenge and SuperHatch series, as well as Killarney in Cape Town’s Alert Engine Parts GTI Challenge, all race on staple Dunlop 195/55R15 Direzza tyres.
Those upcountry classes will be joined by DOE Formula Vee, which now migrates to a specific Direzza semi slick, while the BMW M Performance Parts Club Series also switched to Dunlop Direzza 18 inch control tyres effective 1 March 2023.
Moving on to endurance racing, the South African Endurance Series Backdraft Challenge Cobras switched to a stepped Dunlop Direzza 295/30R18 and 265/35R18 combination from this past weekend’s 2023 season opener at Zwartkops. And Dunlop this week also confirmed that it will supply the tyre of choice to the ILamuna Racing Series best known for its 24 Hours of Lemons, effective March 2023.
“Dunlop tyres has extensively grown its involvement as a recognized and trusted tyre supplier within the South African motorsport arena over the last 24 months,” Sumitomo Rubber South Africa PR and Events Manager Joanne de Freitas confirmed. “We are immensely proud of the progress we have made and it is incredible how so many people now associate our tyres with motorsport.
“We also take this opportunity to give a shout out to ATS, our Dunlop Motorsport Agents in South Africa, who not only do a phenomenal job of servicing all our Dunlop race series, but also support the drivers and teams so brilliantly across the board.”
Dunlop’s famous Service Crew and Van heads to Killarney next for the second round of the Global Touring Car, GTC SupaCup and Polo Cup, as well as the Gazoo GT86 and Yaris Cups in the 18 February National Extreme Festival races powered by the City of Cape Town. See you at Killarney!
Issued on behalf of Dunlop Motorsport
Photography by: Colin Windell