Michelin, Goodyear Preparing for Tire Warmer Ban

Tire manufacturers Michelin and Goodyear are preparing for a ban on tire heating equipment in the FIA World Endurance Championship starting from the 2023 season.

The ban has not been officially announced by series organizers the FIA and ACO, however the tire suppliers and teams have been working towards it for much of this year.

Sportscar365 understands that the measure is being made primarily due to the environmental impact of heating tires.

In the WEC and the European Le Mans Series, tires for all cars are placed in a rack at the rear of the garage that is connected to a heater from which hot air is pumped, raising tire temperatures and giving the driver more grip at the start of their stint.

Tire warmers have been banned in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship since the series’ launch, which has seen Michelin successfully supply tires and support teams in near-freezing conditions at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Michelin Motorsport endurance racing program manager Pierre Alves explained that the French company has needed to “rethink” the design of its Hypercar tire to operate in lower starting temperatures. Michelin also supplies GTE cars in the WEC.

“We have a well-established specification at the moment that we are using now with a [free] working window,” Alves told Sportscar365.

“Now we have to shift the window towards the cold temperature to make the tires work quicker. That’s another way of working because the casing has to be different.”

According to Alves, Michelin’s testing of next year’s updated Hypercar tires has mainly been done through simulation so far.

Furthermore, GTE testing with manufacturers dried up after the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June as Porsche and Ferrari switched their focus to Hypercar development programs.

“We didn’t have a lot of opportunities because before Le Mans all teams were concentrated on working for Le Mans,” Alves said.

“So the [Hypercar] development process really started after Le Mans with the teams that were available to test, which was Peugeot.

“Toyota didn’t test at all, so we did not test with them unfortunately.

“We did it when the tire was new, cold and did it in the test station. We never got real conditions, but that’s the way it is. We work towards that and our simulation showed that it is acceptable.

“After [that], it’s going to be the management in the teams, how they manage. Because it is a different way of thinking with the initial pressure because it is different than to have the standardized pressure already when the tires are hot.”

LMP2 Teams Prepare on Unchanged Rubber

Goodyear, which supplies the LMP2 classes in the WEC and ELMS, has been working on the scenario of a tire heater ban since April, following discussions about the matter with the FIA and ACO.

The American company’s European racing arm has held and attended tests without tire warmers at several circuits including Estoril, Aragon, Portimao, Jerez and Silverstone.

Night running took place at Aragon, while non-professional drivers have been involved in the process.

Several teams have tried the new scenario including JOTA, United Autosports, Team WRT, Algarve Pro Racing and Vector Sport.

Goodyear is not making any changes to its LMP2 tire, with its endurance racing program manager Mike McGregor telling Sportscar365 the plan is to continue “as-is” next season.

“The only thing we may consider is looking at minimum pressures and maximum cambers,” he said.

“We’ve tested with quite a broad scheme of drivers and teams, to get various data inputs at various tracks, to look at energy rating and that sort of thing.

“The most challenging circuit is going to be Spa. The nature of the track and the way Spa is [weather-wise] is going to be the most challenging for drivers getting up to speed on the grip level.

“At the end of the day, we try to support the FIA and ACO with what they’re trying to do, and find the best way forward.”

Change in Driver Mentality Required

McGregor explained that Goodyear was initially thinking about having to make changes to its LMP2 tire for the ban because its Eagle F1 SuperSport product was designed with heating in mind, however it has pushed forward with the current model.

“As long as the teams are sensible in terms of setup, cambers and things, we won’t see a big drama with it,” he said.

“I think the biggest challenge moving forward to next year is drivers changing their mentality on when they can push, how much they can push, and not over-driving the tire.

“On average, across all the testing we did, the grip level was there after a couple of laps.

“The only thing that might be something people will reconsider is how they leave the pit lane. People not necessarily going to an IMSA-style leave, but a little bit more wheelspin to build that temperature.

“It’s going to be a driver mentality thing, the bigger challenge in year one of people understanding how to work with the tires.”

The same approach will apply to WEC GTE-Am teams, which will be using the same Michelin tire as this year but without heating equipment.

GTE-Am is poised to be the only WEC class with mandated Bronze-rated drivers next season, considering the LMP2 Pro-Am classification is set to be removed and focused on ELMS where tire warmers will also disappear.

Alves echoed McGregor’s sentiments that GTE-Am drivers will need to adopt a “different mindset” about how they begin their new tire stints.

“We could see at some racetracks that there are some difficulties at the beginning of the first lap because the tires are hot, but the pressure is not correct,” he said.

“It’s going to be more tire management from the driver’s point of view.

“We will accompany them: our technicians work very closely with the engineers and the drivers to explain what to do and what not to do with the tires.”