Goodyear Aiming to “Achieve a Balance” With LMGT3 Tire

Goodyear wants to “achieve a balance” with its new LMGT3 tire that will be used by a wide range of manufacturers in the FIA World Endurance Championship next season.

The American company, which currently supplies LMP2 in ACO-rules racing, recently won the tender to exclusively work on the category that will replace GTE-Am in the WEC, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the European Le Mans Series.

The introduction of GT3 cars to the WEC is set to increase manufacturer variety beyond the four brands that compete in GTE-Am: Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin and Chevrolet.

According to Goodyear’s endurance racing program manager Mike McGregor, new tire specifications are being developed in a testing program that started before the three-year supply deal was confirmed.

“We’ll be developing brand new specs for the cars,” McGregor told Sportscar365.

“We’ll be doing an extensive test program which has already started. We didn’t know what the final decision was going to be, but we had to meet the timeline if we were selected.

“We made a choice to commit to start testing, so we’ve already conducted a couple and we’ve got four, possibly five more tests booked through to the end of this year.

“We’re testing with various manufacturers. With GT3 there’s a bigger difference in terms of weight distribution and types of car [than LMP2].

“We’re very focused on the fact that we can achieve a balance of front, mid and rear engine vehicles, in terms of what the overall package is.

“There’s a lot of new, exciting manufacturers coming into GT3, so we’re interested in working with those guys to make sure the tires work for everybody.”

While technical details of the LMGT3 tire are currently under wraps, McGregor suggested that the idea is to facilitate double or triple stints in race conditions.

Goodyear is also setting itself “aggressive targets” in terms of using sustainable materials in the tire’s construction and is looking at the possibility of utilizing a single specification like in LMP2.

“We haven’t defined a final specification list yet,” McGregor explained.

“That’s something that’s still ongoing. We’ve only just had the acceptance of the tender process. Now it’s about defining what the tire allocations and specs are going to look like.

“We’re developing on the concept of looking at double and triple stinting and carrying on from what the FIA and ACO have been at the headline of doing, far in advance of any other race series out there.

“We’re also trying to maintain as much driveability as possible.

“We know that with any category that’s got Pro-Am drivers involved, it’s important to have that level across the broad span of drivers so they can get the most out of the package.

“Also the fact that we’ve had the removal of tire warmers this year, means we can start the development phase already having that in mind, to ensure that warmup is part of it.”

Porsche and Ferrari were part of the “initial stages” of LMGT3 tire testing, according to McGregor, based on their work with Goodyear in the European Le Mans Series GTE class.

Goodyear is not as widespread a GT3 supplier as Michelin and Pirelli, with its current involvement in the formula consisting of supplying some SP9 cars at the Nürburgring.

“We’re talking to multiple manufacturers at the moment on who we can include in phases,” McGregor said.

“A lot already have their calendars set for the year, so it’s trying to adjust testing dates and programs to ensure we can try and squeeze that in.

“We’ve got a big test at Aragon in May where we’re going to test in day and night.”

Different Benefits of Supplying LMGT3, LMP2

According to McGregor, Goodyear finds different benefits in supplying the LMGT3 and LMP2 platforms that fall under two different genres of sports car racing machinery.

Goodyear holds exclusive rights to LMP2 for the rest of the current generation’s validity until the end of 2025, ensuring its supply of cars in multiple categories at Le Mans for at least two years.

LMP2 is expected to be removed from the WEC next year, meaning that the LMGT3 deal is set to keep Goodyear on the world championship grid full-time.

“I think the knowledge, growth and learning has a benefit from both,” said McGregor.

“In terms of the end road user product, there’s a big benefit from the learnings of putting tires on GT3 cars.

“If you look at some of the extreme GT3 road cars out there, like the new [Porsche] Type-992 GT3 RS that we’ve got a fitment in, you look at the level of aero on that and it’s not far away from the race car at all. There’s a big benefit to that.

“But you’ve also got to look at why we got into LMP2 in the first place: it pushes the tire package to the limit.

“The level of downforce and speeds we reach helps us to advance our technologies in the same way. It’s a cascade of knowledge and information.”