Michelin Daytona Roar Notebook

Ahead of the 2021 Roar Before the Rolex 24 weekend, Michelin provides some pre-race statistics, notes and data.

Roar Tire Allocations

WeatherTech Championship
DPi: 10 sets – IMSA Medium
LMP2: 10 sets – IMSA Medium
LMP3: 7 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S8M (Fronts) / S9M (Rears)
GTLM: 14 sets – GTLM Range
GTD: 7 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M

Michelin Pilot Challenge
GS: 6 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M
TCR: 4 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M+ (Fronts) / S9M (Rears)

Prototype Challenge
7 sets – Michelin Pilot Sport GT S8M (Fronts) / S9M (Rears)

Tire Volume: Across the Roar and Rolex 24 race events, Michelin and operational support and logistics partner Jackson Motorsports will bring nearly 18,000 tires to Daytona International Speedway to support more than 100 cars in three IMSA race series. 

Record Tracking: Teams in nearly all IMSA classes set new qualifying or race lap records at Daytona in Michelin’s first two years as Official Tire of IMSA. The only record left to beat is the LMP3 qualifying mark, set in 2018 (1:45.048). The new generation of 2021 LMP3 spec cars should be quicker, to allow for their pace to slot in behind LMP2 cars but ahead of GTLM cars within the WeatherTech Championship.

New Blue/Yellow RFID Chevrons: The Michelin RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system that debuted in 2019 has been adorned in traditional Michelin blue, yellow and white colors. The chevrons that point the cars through the reader switch colors in 2021 from orange and white to the blue, yellow and white.

These chevrons funnel the cars through the reader to record which dry weather slick set is on. The RFID readers themselves have also been updated over the offseason. The system allows IMSA and Michelin to track tire usage.

S9M for GTD, GS: For the 2021 IMSA season, Michelin will use the harder of its two commercial slick compounds, the S9M, for all races in the WeatherTech GTD and Pilot Challenge GS classes. Over the last two years, there has been a roughly even split of races between the S8M and S9M for these two classes.

TCR Evolution: Just like Android or Apple iOS operating systems are updated, so too is Michelin’s TCR tire to begin the 2021 season. Throughout 2019, TCR ran exclusively on the S9M tire on both the front and rear axles. A new S9M+ tire was introduced at the September race weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Following that race weekend, Michelin gathered further competitor feedback and pursued additional testing to address the debut.

After this process took place in the fall and early winter, a new evolutionary step – think of this as “Version 3.0” – will race at Daytona this January. The evolution was provisionally called the S9M Evo in IMSA communications but will retain the S9M+ nomenclature on the sidewall and in official communications. For Daytona, this S9M+ tire will run on the front axles with the S9M on the rears.

Social Media Handles: 
Facebook: @MichelinUSA
Twitter: @MichelinUSA and @MichelinRaceUSA
Instagram: @MichelinUSA
Web: michelinracingusa.com