Team KR confirms Dunlop deal.

Proton Team KR has officially confirmed that they will be using Dunlop tyres for the forthcoming MotoGP season.

The independent Banbury based outfit lost their supply of Bridgestones at the end of last season - just as the Japanese company was starting to threaten Michelin's dominance of the premier-class.

Ironically, it was this upturn in Bridgestone's performance - topped by a debut podium for Makoto Tamada, and partly as a result of Team KR's development efforts - that promoted both Suzuki (Michelin) and Kawasaki (Dunlop) to switch to the brand.

The increased demand for Bridgestones - from two factory teams - left Team KR out in the cold, and with little choice but to renew previous links with Dunlop.

Proton will thus be the only major team to use Dunlops this season (WCM, should they race, and the wild-card Moriwaki Honda team are expected to join them), and aim to use the relatively short distance (less than 100km) between the team base in Banbury and the Dunlop factory in Birmingham, to develop a tyre specifically for the KR V5 - using the very latest modelling software.

"With his F1 background, John Barnard has been pushing us to step up our activity in this area. It seems to us that Dunlop have a similar belief," said Roberts. "They have established a specialist R&D group, using the latest software modelling package that is specifically design to perform predictive modelling on tyre profiles and constructions."

"Together with our Japanese colleagues in Kobe, we have been focusing more and more on this computer-aided development over the past 12 months, which has helped us to work even more closely to introduce new materials and technology," added Dunlop's chief designer Dave Watkins

"This a really exciting chance to work in this field, hand in hand with a specialist constructor, whose sole activity is MotoGP. Like us, they are able to respond quickly to the pressures and demands of MotoGP racing. And even in today's world of instant IT technology, the fact that our base is less than 100 km from the Proton headquarters is a big help.

"It means our computer modelling group can frequently get together with the Proton Team KR engineering team, and develop a really close working relationship that will benefit us both," said Watkins.

Nobuatsu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts will ride for Team KR this season.