Strides Made Across 70,000 Miles of GTP Competition

Nine months after making its global competition debut at Daytona, the Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tire entered Motul Petit Le Mans not as the season’s newest technology, but as a proven part of race-winning strategy.

Over the course of its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, teams learned how to get the most from the new tire across endurance races, street circuits, changing temperatures and a variety of track surfaces.

Action Express Racing put that knowledge to work during wins at Detroit and Watkins Glen, making strategic calls to change tires on only one side to help find the balance between grip and track position needed to win.

Those victories became part of a championship season for the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R and Jack Aitken.

“The tire was a nice step up in performance from last year,” GTP drivers’ champion Aitken said. “We definitely found that there was a bit of an improvement in the warm-up, the durability was still there, it was reliable and that’s kind of what you want from the tyre so it allowed us to do what we do best and go racing hard.”

That combination of improved warm-up, durability and reliability was tested throughout more than 70,000 miles of GTP competition during the tire’s debut season.

The final ten hours came at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, where the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 closed the season with an overall victory.