After a wet few days at Snetterton in late November where much useful rain tyre development was conducted, DUNLOP finally ran its new BTCC slick tyre on the 19 and 20th of December in Spain. Triple Eight, West Surrey Racing and Arena Motorsport were invited to Almeria to try a number of compound and constructional variants on this abrasive circuit.

Several race runs were successfully completed on the harder of the four available compounds and a promising new construction also completed race distances without problem. High track abrasion limited the full assessment of a faster, softer compound to 17 of the required 20 laps but it is hoped that the generally easier UK tracks will prove kinder, allowing DUNLOP to offer all teams a good level of performance in 2003.

After the test DUNLOP were able to commit to a baseline specification for early testing in the new year but plan to continue their development programme in Spain, commencing with a week long test in Albacete on January 22nd