Michelin Challenge Design “Le Mans 2030” Winners Announced

In collaboration with the ACO, Michelin today announced the winners of the global 2017 Michelin Challenge Design, “Le Mans 2030: Design for the Win.”

Works by individuals and teams of designers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, India, Portugal and Russia were among the winners and finalists selected by a distinguished jury of the world’s top automotive designers and industry experts.

The three winning designs, seven finalists and 10 honorable mentions were chosen from more than 1,600 registrants representing 80 countries. Over 16 years, Michelin Challenge Design has received a total of 9,901 entries from 123 countries.

“The winners of our 2017 Michelin Challenge Design presented numerous highly innovative features for the Le Mans race in the year 2030 and the quality of work from this year’s entries was truly outstanding,” said Thom Roach, vice president of original-equipment marketing for Michelin North America.

“We congratulate the winners for their thought-provoking, visually captivating designs for the world’s greatest endurance race, Le Mans 24 Hours.”

Winners of the 2017 Michelin Challenge Design:

*First place: Tao Ni of China for design entry “Infiniti Le Mans 2030”
*Second place: Daniel Bacelar Pereira of Portugal for “Bentley 9 Plus Michelin Battery Slick”
*Third place: Kurt Scanlan of Canada for “Cierzo C1”

“The Le Mans 24 Hours race has always been the theater of the greatest innovations for the motor car that are tried and tested during the mythical race for series production vehicles,” said Pierre Fillon, president of Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

The Michelin Challenge Design fits perfectly into our ongoing innovative process with Michelin, one of the Le Mans 24 Hours’ historic partners.

“I can understand how difficult it was for the judges to decide among the candidates given the quality of work sent in for the competition, which aims to predict what kind of car will race in the 2030 Le Mans 24 Hours.” 

The first, second and third place winners will be invited to attend the North American International Auto Show at Detroit as guests of Michelin and will be recognized during Michelin’s annual private Designer’s Reception, where they will participate in a private portfolio review with members of the jury.

The first-place winner will also be recognized at the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours race.

All members of each winning team and finalist category are invited to join an exclusive online community restricted to Michelin Challenge Design winners and jurors.