The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season concludes with two consecutive races on the Bahrain International Circuit, and Goodyear says it is looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead in the desert. The circuit layout may be the same, but the different race duration will bring interesting challenges for the LMP2 prototype category teams, all racing on Goodyear tyres.
LMP2 driver Antonio Felix da Costa is now a Goodyear Brand Ambassador. The tyre maker announced da Costa’s new engagement prior to the weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) 8 Hours of Portimao event; the Portuguese driver called the announcement of his ambassadorship on the weekend that WEC arrived in his homeland an “added bonus”.
The current season is Michelin’s ninth consecutive year with the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC), and it has developed a new range of tyres for the headlining Le Mans Hypercar class which replaces LMP1 as the premier class in 2021. All five cars competing in Le Mans Hypercar this year race on Michelin Pilot Sport tyres that were developed almost entirely created using virtual tools.
Goodyear will make its debut as a tyre supplier to the European Le Mans Series this weekend. The manufacturer is working alongside top teams in the LMP2 and LMGTE classes at the season-opening 4 Hours of Le Castellet. Goodyear’s latest tyre technology will be fitted to five front-running LMP2 prototypes and every car in the LMGTE field throughout the ELMS season. The brand’s entrance into the series follows last year’s fitments to LMP2 winners in the FIA World Endurance Championship. However the weekend will mark the first time that LMGTE cars have raced on the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport race tyres. Having been delayed by the pandemic, the series will run over five races until November.
Goodyear’s comeback to world championship motorsport has been marked already with with wins in the FIA World Endurance Championship and a new partnership with the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup. But with the suspension of live motorsport, the brand has entered another world of motorsport for the first time, moving into virtual racing. The two major track series follow Goodyear’s entrance into the European Truck Racing Championship Digital Racing Challenge and the eNASCAR league.
As reported yesterday, from 2020/21 Goodyear will act as sole tyre supplier to the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and European Le Mans Series (ELMS). We expected Michelin to be disappointed by this move away from open tyre supply, however, what came as news is that the tyre maker wasn’t even considered for the role of next season’s LMP2 supplier.
Goodyear is to serve as official tyre supplier to the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and European Le Mans Series (ELMS). This arrangement follows the decision made by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) to appoint a single tyre supplier for the Le Mans Prototype class.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest has announced a three-season deal with Michelin for the supply of tyres to the new top class of endurance racing, poised to take to the track in the 2020-21 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Cars competing in the top LMP2 class of the 2020 European Le Mans Series (ELMS) will use the same tyre specifications as those employed in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). This provides Goodyear with a ready-made opportunity to continue its European motorsport comeback.
Although active within North America, including as exclusive tyre supplier to NASCAR’s top three series, the Goodyear name has long played second fiddle in motorsport to Dunlop in other parts of the world. This will change on Sunday, with the brand’s return to global motorsport at Silverstone. Goodyear says that after 12,000 kilometres of testing at seven circuits, it is “well prepared” for its comeback.
Goodyear is making headlines for its global motorsport comeback, but is by no means the only tyre maker presenting its latest tyres for the 2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at this week’s Prologue test. Michelin says it has also brought its freshly-developed endurance tyres to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain to give teams and drivers a “valuable opportunity” to fine-tune their cars’ set-ups ahead of the WEC season opener at Silverstone on 1 September.
Teams from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will take to the track for ‘Prologue’ pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya tomorrow. One of the most significant moments of this anticipated public test session will be the return of Goodyear to international competition.
With the 6 Hours of Bahrain, the current FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season drew to a close. Reflecting on an “amazing season of racing,” Dunlop has congratulated Aston Martin Racing and Vaillante Rebellion for their class victories. Both raced on Dunlop tyres in open tyre classes; Aston Martin Racing won the FIA World Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams and Vaillante Rebellion won the FIA World Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams. Each of the teams began the event leading the standings and both claimed race victories in Bahrain to secure the crowns.
The penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the 6 Hours of Shanghai on 3 November, heralded the tenth Aston Martin/ Dunlop victory, with the #98 LM GTE Am car taking its third win and seventh podium finish of the season. The tally for the partnership so far stands at ten wins, 21 podium finishes and 12 pole positions including the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours victory. It was an all-Dunlop LM GTE Am podium, with the #98 Vantage finishing ahead of the Gulf Racing and Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsches. This is the second occasion in recent times that ‘yellow caps’ dominated the podium – the round contested in Mexico last month also resulted in a Dunlop 1-2-3 finish.
Dunlop is by no means the only tyre maker present in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), and following the weekend’s 6 Hours of Nürburgring race in Germany, Michelin reports that its partners were able to “benefit fully from the performance potential of their tyres” thanks to low track temperatures of between 19°C and 26°C.
Clement Marin
Goodyear