New Michelin Tires for Le Mans

The 2010 edition of the 24 hours of Le Mans Race will mark Michelin’s 13th consecutive year of participation. For this year, the company has developed a new range of more durable tires.In collaboration with its partners. Michelin has focused on increasing tire life without sacrificing performance in other areas. The tiremaker’s goal for this year is to quadruple the length of each stint for prototypes and to double them for GT cars.

“Equipping 34 of the 55 cars invited to take part in the 78th running of the 24 Heures du Mans, Michelin is aiming for a 19th victory - its 13th in a row since 1998 - and will also be attempting to win in all four categories for the third consecutive year,” stated the press release.

The new tire development process was debuted almost one year ago. To increase tire life, Michelin provided its partners in the LMP1 class with a wide selection of slick tires, allowing each team to choose its own tire range that best suited the car’s technical features and individual driving styles.

The selection were made through a complex process that included multiple testing sessions and was subsequently validated by many of the teams at the 1,000 km Spa race in May. So for the first time in history, Audi, Peugeot, Aston Martin and Michelin’s other LMP1 partners will not be using the same tires at Le Mans.

“Thanks to its ever more durable tyres, Michelin is helping to reduce the environmental impact of motor sports. Committed to environmental protection for nearly 20 years, the tyre maker - through the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge - also rewards participating cars that demonstrate superior energy efficiency,” stated the press release.