June 6th, 2022.



BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team won on the long-awaited return of world championship motorcycle racing to Belgium’s Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, racing throughout the day and night with Dunlop slick and wet tyres.

Riders Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mykhalchyk and Jeremy Guarnoni won the race by 7 laps with the No. 37 BMW M1000RR, surviving unpredictable conditions that caught out many of their rivals in the early hours of Sunday morning. Conditions worsened enough to result in a race suspension later on to clear an oil spillage on the track. Racing got back underway for the final ten minutes, during which Guaranoni brought the M1000RR home on a wet track.

At the start of the race, the BMW was fighting in a five-way lead battle alongside another Dunlop team, Webike SRC Kawasaki France, and three other factory-supported teams. The two Dunlop bikes both showed consistent pace, but a series of falls for the Kawasaki took it out of contention. As the race progressed, the BMW’s other rivals fell by the wayside with technical issues or mistakes in damp conditions. The Belgian team held on for a historic home victory, and its second in three races after triumphing at last year’s season-ending 6 Hours of Most.

The Dunlop Superstock Trophy provides an accessible platform for teams to race bikes almost unchanged from their showroom counterparts. With 23 teams representing four manufacturers, the class is highly competitive. This time, French operation Team LH Racing won the class with its Yamaha YZF-R1 shared by Johan Nigon, Enzo de la Vega and Lukas Trautmann. The trio finished two laps ahead of the runner-up Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers CMS Motostore ‘firefighter’ bike, which leads the championship by 19 points over Team LH Racing.

Dunlop tyres provide relentless performance and reliable consistency
The six Dunlop teams in the Formula EWC class and all 23 Superstock teams raced predominantly on different specifications of Dunlop’s KR109 front and KR108 rear slick tyres, which were available in a number of different variants from soft to medium and hard. When rain showers started in the early morning, teams opted for the wet tyre options. In total, Dunlop brought 3500 tyres to Spa in six trailers, along with a team of five track support engineers and two teams of seven tyre fitters working in shifts.

As a new event with limited data, Dunlop brought many different specifications of tyre to the test day in May. During this test, teams were able to trial and validate a number of tyres. Based on this feedback, Dunlop selected the specifications to bring to the race.

David Auerbacher, Event Leader EWC, Dunlop: “Congratulations to BMW for a well-earned home victory on Belgian soil. Just like everyone in the paddock, we were excited for the return of world championship level motorcycle racing to Spa-Francorchamps and the race did not disappoint. The quality and professionalism of teams throughout the field is clear to see and they put on a thrilling show for fans, especially in challenging and unpredictable conditions. Our tyres showed non-stop performance and consistency throughout the race so it’s clear our validations before the race weekend were correct.”

Wim Van Achter, Motorsport Manager, Dunlop: “We’re proud to celebrate this victory with BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. They fully deserve to win this historic race on such an incredible track, and we are proud of the development we have achieved together in the last few seasons. Congratulations also to Team LH Racing for winning the extremely competitive Dunlop Superstock Trophy class.”

The EWC season resumes on 5-7 August with the Suzuka 8 Hours as the paddock returns to the classic Japanese race for the first time since 2019.


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