Michelin and endurance racing's new Golden Age

Michelin is looking forward to an exceptional year of endurance racing, with no fewer than nine premium carmakers involved in the sport's headlining Hypercar class! Nineteen Michelin-equipped prototypes will appear at the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship's opener in Qatar next month, and 23 are expected for June's Le Mans 24 Hours.

The announcement by the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) and FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile of the creation of a new Hypercar class in endurance racing dates back to 2018, when Michelin was named as the cars' exclusive tire supplier.

After 10 months of computer-assisted design and simulator work, the first MICHELIN Pilot Sports for these sophisticated prototypes got their first track-run in March 2021, just weeks before their maiden FIA WEC race-appearance at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

In the course of 2022 and 2023, Peugeot, Porsche, Cadillac and Ferrari joined Toyota in the new category as Michelin continued to develop its range, adding alternative sizes and a new rain tire containing a higher proportion of sustainable materials with no detriment to performance.

This year marks the dawn of what promises to be a new golden age for endurance racing as four more manufacturers join the Hypercar field, namely BMW, Lamborghini, Alpine and Isotta Fraschini.

The season's 72 hours of race action will begin with the Qatar 1812 Km, on March 2, and conclude exactly eight months later in Bahrain, on November 2, with Le Mans again standing out as the campaign's showpiece on June 15-16.

Michelin expects to equip at least 23 Hypercars at the great French race where Ferrari will be looking to repeat its success of 2023 with a trio of 499Ps. Looking to thwart the Italian make's plan, IMSA title-holders Cadillac will have the same number of V-Series.Rs, while defending WEC champs Toyota will have two prototypes (GR010 Hybrid), like Peugeot (9X8), BMW (M Hybrid V8) and Alpine (A424). Meanwhile Porsche intends to send at least six 963s to build on its illustrious record in La Sarthe!

Michelin is consequently looking forward to a bumper season in association with its nine partners, while at the same time preparing for 2025 as it works on the longevity and consistency of its Pilot Sport slicks and rain tires that contain at least 50 percent renewable/recycled raw materials.