Dunlop returns to the Belgian  circuit of Spa this weekend hoping for a repeat of its  overall victory in the 24-hour race in 2003. Then, the N-GT class Freisinger  Motorsports’ Porsche took overall honours for the first time in the FIA GT  Championship, and the British tyre manufacturer aims to repeat the victory with  a strong line-up of both partner and customer teams.

The Birmingham-based company  is preparing to take 2,600 of its latest specification GT tyres to Belgium for more than 20  cars that will use Dunlop rubber during this year’s event. Dunlop will also  supply tyres to as many as eight DPM series cars, the German-based Touring car  series which will run in with the ETCC in Spa.

Ten trucks will support the  two series; eight from the UK, one from Germany and one from Belgium. Dunlop will also  bring 13 fitters, eight engineers along with one manager and one person to take  care of the vast quantities of administration generated by such a mammoth  logistical operation.

Last year’s race was one of  the wettest on record, benefiting Dunlop’s famed wet weather tyre but manager  Graham Shuter says that won’t change this year’s order. “Where ever you are in  the world it could rain for 24-hours, so the order will stay the same here as it  was for the Daytona 24-hours and Le  Mans last month,” he says. “We  always take a 70-30 per cent split in dry and wet tyres to a 24-hour race, and  this weekend will be no different.” The Spa circuit is one of the  finest in the world, loved by drivers who relish its undulating corners through  the Ardennes forest. Dunlop’s  engineers will have to cater for the particular characteristics of the circuit.  “We have found at Spa that the track works all four corners of the car in just  about equal measure,” says Shuter. “Most clockwise tracks work the left side  more than the right, but this one is different.“We have to take great care  with the tyre pressures. They must be the same all round and we have to pay  particular attention to them during a pit stop because it is such a long, fast  lap that any kind of drop could cause problems. “We are delighted that the  Lister Storm team has returned this weekend, and we have customer teams with us  who are all capable of doing well in the race. We are hoping that we can repeat  last year’s achievement and score another overall win.”