The official Test Day (Sunday) ahead of this year‟s Le Mans 24 Hours (June 14-15) took place in predominantly warm, sunny weather, with air/track temperatures ranging from 11°C/15°C to 15°C/30°C and no rain. These mild conditions allowed the teams to focus on confirming the ideal temperature windows for the different tyres they will have available for the race. The data collected during the day will be particularly valuable when it comes to finalising tyre strategies for the French endurance classic.
The two four-hour sessions also provided an opportunity to confirm the consistency of the compounds‟ performance and longevity, two key factors at Le Mans, as illustrated by the memorable win of the Audi R18 TDI in 2011 after Benoît TRÉLUYER crucially completed five stints on the same set of tyres, equivalent to a distance of 750km (55 laps)!
For this year‟s race, the teams will have three types of slick: „low temperature‟ and „high temperature‟ soft compounds, plus a medium compound for hotter weather. These so- called „confidential‟ tyres incorporate advanced technologies that could well become a feature of future MICHELIN road tyres.
A new LM P2 tyre
Meanwhile, the information gathered during the early part of this year‟s European (ELMS) and world (FIA WEC) endurance championships has enabled MICHELIN Motorsport‟s engineers to develop an evolution compound for the French firm‟s partners competing in the discipline‟s LM P2 class. “The performance of the new cold weather medium compound we have produced for the LM P2 teams indicates that we have been working in the right direction,” notes Jérôme MONDAIN, manager of MICHELIN‟s endurance racing programmes. “This tyre was designed to cover long distances with no fall-off in performance, which is vital for competitions like the Le Mans 24 Hours.”
Competitive solutions for the LM GTE cars
The Test Day also gave drivers in the LM GTE Pro and Am classes an opportunity to test soft-, medium- and hard-compound tyres. The extremely competitive LM GTE category features a long list of top names, including ex-Formula 1 driver Giancarlo FISICHELLA, France‟s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabien BARTHEZ and the American actor Patrick DEMPSEY.
MICHELIN had 2,100 tyres in Le Mans for its partners‟ use during the Test Day where it worked with 43 of the 53 cars.