The Metzeler Ulster Grand Prix, the world’s fastest road race, is one of the biggest challenges in motorcycle racing and title sponsors Metzeler will be returning to the 7.732-mile Dundrod circuit eager to repeat the hat-trick of victories Guy Martin secured last year.
It looks like a repeat could well be on the cards for fan favourite Martin, having enjoyed a very successful year so far by recently taking a class victory at Pikes Peak, victory in the Solo Southern 100 Championship race as well as podiums at the Isle of Man TT. He will be once again returning to the Ulster with the Tyco Suzuki team and will be joined by William Dunlop.
The elder of the two Dunlop brothers, William has come of age in 2014, taking a fantastic debut victory in the Superbike class at the North West 200 before following it up with a podium in the second of the Isle of Man TT Supersport races.
Joining these two will be RC Express Kawasaki and MAR Train Yamaha rider, Dean Harrison. Considered one of the stars of the future, Dean stamped his authority at the recent Southern 100 races when he took five victories, including in Superbike, Supersport and Supertwin whilst securing lap records in all three classes. This followed his stunning performance at the Isle of Man TT where he secured victory in the Supertwin race and lapped at over 130mph on the Superbike.
The 2014 Ulster Grand Prix also marks German tyre brand’s second year as title sponsor for the event, a partnership that yielded great success on its debut and looks set to be even stronger this year. The week-long event is a highlight on the road racing calendar and having invested in a new race truck for rider support, the motorcycle tyre specialists will be going all out as they look to further add to the already impressive winning tally and continue to broaden their appeal to fans not just in the UK but across the globe.
Of course while winning is important, as the World’s fastest road race the Ulster Grand Prix also serves as the perfect testing ground for Metzeler as they look to continue their development of the race winning RACETEC™ RR family of treaded competition tyres. As well as being the tyre of choice for the North West 200, Isle of Man TT and Southern 100 victories, they also played a vital role in Guy Martin’s Pikes Peak success.
The development process is a key part of Metzeler’s road racing programme. The current RACETEC™ RR will soon be available for purchase, while the brand’s new Supersport tyre for the road, the SPORTEC™ M7 RR, has been developed directly from last year’s Road Racing events such as the Ulster Grand Prix. As a result, the M7 RR offers consistently high performance, even in tricky, mixed conditions as can be found on the ‘real road racing’ calendar.
You can find out more about the Metzeler range of road and race tyres at www.metzeler.co.uk and their build up to the Ulster Grand Prix on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/metzeleruk