French rubber specialists provide an easier ride for track addicts.

Dunlop’s new GP Racer D212 will give serious trackday riders and club racers a chance to enjoy top-level tyre performance without the hassles that can go with full-on competition rubber.

Replacing the current GP Racer D211 (they’ll cost around the same), the new GP Racer D212 is based heavily on the French firm’s D212 GP Pro supersport tyre, itself a treaded version of the KR106/8 racing slick used in Moto2.

The GP Racer D212 shares the D212 GP Pro’s basic construction, fast steering character and tread pattern, but comes in new, friendlier multi- tread compounds that aren’t as track and temperature-sensitive as a racing tyre, so there’s less chance of the dreaded cold tear that can ruin a tyre in a few laps. They will be available in a choice of two front compounds – Soft and Medium – and two NTEC rears – Medium and Endurance – in both slick and treaded varieties.

We got the chance to test the new GP Racer D212s, hot off their warmers, at Dunlop’s 3km test track at Mireval, near Montpellier, on a road-going R1 and ZX-10R using the harder Medium/Endurance front and rear, and Dunlop’s race-prepped R1 test bike fitted with the Soft/Medium compounds.

‘On a litre bike, there’s more grip than you know what to do with’

On both 1000cc road bikes, with their soft suspension set-ups, there’s more grip than you know what to do with at either end. But it’s only when you try them on a machine like the race-prepped R1 with stiffer, cleaner handling, increased ground clearance and racier brakes and power that you can really pick out what these new tyres are all about.

Front grip is absolute and you can throw the gnarly R1 on its side with ridiculous speed and confidence. Changes of direction through flip- flops are a piece of cake and there’s loads of rear grip, too. Bikes with over 200bhp can make even the best race tyres drift, but the GP Racers slide progressively and with bags of feel.

They’re available in January, in 120/70-17 front; 160/60-17, 180/55- 17, 190/55-17, 200/55-17 rear sizes.

www.dunlopmotorcycle.eu