The 2015 Isle of Man TT will live long in the memory of both fans and riders alike, and recently Dunlop have been reflecting on their success at this year’s event.
The tyre manufacturer, who have been involved with the event since 1907, claimed three wins, a further seven podiums and a lap record in what proved to be a very successful 2015.
Bruce Anstey opened the race week with his 10th victory on the island, riding his Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Motorcycles to first place in the RST Superbike class.
Last year saw the flying Kiwi set a new lap record of 132.298mph (17 minutes 6.682 seconds) around the mountain, but this year TT legend John McGuinness went even better with a blistering 132.701mph lap. Along with victory in the TT Zero, and a new class lap record, he claimed his 23rd win on the island, and equalled Mike Hailwood’s record of 7 Senior TT victories.
“I really did give it everything I could and the reaction coming in to the pits was amazing – it felt like it did when I broke the first 130mph lap.” said McGuinness.
“My team got me through the pits perfectly and going into the third lap the reaction from the crowd was great. I had a couple of issues in the Superbike race on Sunday but after sitting down with my team, one of the only changes I made to my Honda was switching my tyre compound to the one that Bruce Anstey won on during the Superbike race – clearly the right choice.”
Lee Johnston also stepped onto the podium in the TT Zero, to give Dunlop a 1 – 2 – 3 in the electric class.
“We’ve had another fantastic year at the TT in 2015”, said Mark Sears, Dunlop’s motorcycle product support manager, “There is nothing like the atmosphere in the winners enclosure on Senior TT day and it was topped off for us by seeing John McGuinness take the win. Racing in the Isle of Man TT plays a particularly important role in developing tyres for the road. As an open competition between tyre manufacturers it further enhances Dunlop’s relentless drive to innovate and develop new technologies to heighten product performance. We have been involved in the Isle of Man TT Races since the first event in 1907. It is this experience, as with John McGuinness, which we see as one of the key drivers to our unparalleled success in the event.”
Find out more about Dunlop’s KR106 and KR108 slick tyres here.
