IMSA: Reinforcing commitment to sustainability in motorsports with Michelin Efficient Performance Award

25/01/2024

Reinforcing its commitment to sustainability in motorsports, four IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship teams were recently awarded with the Michelin Efficient Performance Awards for their efforts in 2023 IMSA competition.

The award recognizes teams who make best usage of their resources by completing the most race laps using the fewest tires and continuing the pursuit of sustainability goals in motorsports.

“For Michelin, endurance racing is about improving our products in the toughest environments,” Jason Anzalone, Director of Motorsports, Michelin North America, said. “It’s a way for us to prove out innovations around sustainability. For us, bringing fewer tires to the paddock while still delivering high levels of performance.”

Here are the 2023 season winners of the award.

LMP2 – TDS Racing
LMP3 – JDC-Miller Motorsports
GTD PRO – Pfaff Motorsports
GTD – Gradient Racing

Michelin continues to make strides in bringing fewer tires to the track. This can be seen by Michelin reducing the GTP tire allocation by a third compared to the DPi era. The new Michelin Pilot Sport Pro GT will also allow for a 17% reduction in tires for the GTD PRO and GTD fields. These reductions are made possible by developing tires that can extend the time between fuel runs (stints) through extended performance life of the tire.

Michelin is also advancing in making tires that are made from sustainable materials. This was demonstrated at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans when Michelin unveiled a concept racing tire that contains 63 percent sustainable raw materials. The all-electric Porsche GT4 e-Performance took a high-speed run on Michelin’s new 63% sustainable tires during IMSA’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen weekend. Michelin plans to make tires of only sustainable materials by 2050, with a target of sustainable materials making up 40 percent of Michelin tires by 2030.

The Michelin Efficient Performance Award will be given out again in 2024 for LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD classes running in IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.