  We investigate the possibility of constructing a supergravity background dual
to the quark-gluon plasma using D6-branes wrapping a three-cycle in the
deformed conifold. The UV-completion of this setup is given by M-theory on a G2
holonomy manifold. For the class of metrics considered we find that there are
only non-extremal D-brane solutions in the limit of the singular conifold with
the singularity being resolved by the D-brane horizon. The thermodynamic
properties of the system show some puzzling features, such as negative specific
heat at an unusual behavior of the entropy. Among the properties of the plasma
studied using this holographic dual are the quark-antiquark potential, the
shear viscosity and parton energy loss. While one finds the expected behavior
for the potential and the viscosity -- deconfinement and the universal
shear-viscosity to entropy ratio -- both the jet quenching parameter and the
calculation of the drag force lead us to the conclusion that there is no parton
energy loss in the dual plasma. Our results indicate that the background
constructed is not dual to a realistic QGP, yet we argue that this should
improve upon inclusion of the three-form gauge potential in the
eleven-dimensional background.
