MEDIA INFORMATION
FIA WEC and ELMS racing at Silverstone (UK): 10 hours of topflight action for MICHELIN’s latest endurance range
The 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) and European Le Mans Series (ELMS) both kick off this weekend (April 18-20) at Silverstone, United Kingdom, with the 6 Hours and 4 Hours of Silverstone respectively. After late-March/early-April‟s pre-season Prologue tests at Le Castellet, France, which MICHELIN Motorsport used to evaluate a number of new solutions, the British meeting will provide the French firm with two opportunities to showcase the benefits of the development work it carried out in preparation for the 2014 campaign.
“Our ranges for this year‟s FIA WEC and ELMS have undergone something of a revolution,” notes Jérôme MONDAIN, manager of MICHELIN Motorsport‟s endurance racing programmes. “To prepare for the 6 Hours of Silverstone, we notably worked on our tyres‟ temperature windows in order to obtain a balanced overall package and consistent performance across the range.”
MICHELIN‟s endurance racing ranges for 2014 feature new tyres and sizes and also pack a raft of advanced technology for the new challenges that await it this season.
LM P1: all-new solutions Michelin‟s new LM P1 tyres are 15 percent narrower and 2kg lighter compared with last year, while their specific specifications were developed to meet the needs of the company‟s partners in the premier class. The same basic tyre has effectively been adapted to match the differing characteristics of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro (Audi Sport Team Joest), Porsche 919 Hybrid (Porsche Motorsport) and Toyota TS040 HYBRID (Toyota Racing). In all three cases, Michelin‟s development work was carried out in parallel to that of the three new cars themselves which were designed to comply with the latest regulations that place the accent on energy efficiency. Indeed, although these three prototypes all feature hybrid four-wheel drive powertrains, each one favours a different system and their power outputs are also quite different (Toyota Racing has released the figure of up to 1,000hp for the TS040 HYBRID when exiting corners, as the contribution of its electric motors reaches its peak). Michelin‟s tyres will need to handle these high power levels at Silverstone where grip might turn out to be at a premium if predictions of rain for weekend prove founded. “The forecast is for a daytime high of around 15°C and the possibility of rain for the WEC race on Sunday,” observes Jérôme MONDAIN. “The teams will no doubt use both the „Low Temperature‟ and „High Temperature‟ versions of our „SOFT‟ tyres. If it rains, they will obviously run our rain tyres.”
LM P2: the same tyres for all the class’s runners... All Michelin‟s ELMS and FIA WEC LM P2 partner teams will use the same compounds at Silverstone this weekend, namely „SOFT‟ and „MEDIUM‟. Last year, the tyres used by these cars were so-called „confidential‟ products, which meant teams were not permitted to
[email protected] keep them or recover them after races. The rules have now changed and the challenge faced by Michelin‟s engineers was to deliver the same level of performance without employing materials or techniques classified as „secret‟. This season, the Clermont- Ferrand-based firm is working with a number of new partners. In the FIA WEC, SMP Racing is running two ORECA 03s on Michelin rubber, while ELMS teams SEBASTIEN LOEB Racing (ORECA 03-NISSAN), Signatech-Alpine (Alpine A450-NISSAN) and LARBRE Compétition (MORGAN-JUDD) will also race on the French brand‟s products.
LM GTE: if it rains… MICHELIN Motorsport‟s engineers have taken advantage of the fact that so-called „confidential‟ tyres are still authorised for the LM GTE cars to develop a new rain tyre which features advanced technologies. The weather during the FIA WEC prologue prevented them from testing this new range, so Michelin‟s technical staff won‟t be unhappy if it does rain at Silverstone, since that would allow them to collect valuable performance- and durability-related data about these new tyres. In dry conditions, the LM GTE runners at Silverstone will be able to choose from Michelin‟s „MEDIUM‟ and „Low Temperature MEDIUM‟ slicks.
Optimised logistics MICHELIN Motorsport‟s technical staff will need to be in duty in two different paddocks at Silverstone, so that will mean more complex logistics because it will have twice the staff and twice as many tyres to coordinate. Around 4,300 tyres will be available at the British circuit (including 2,500 for the WEC teams), plus a total staff of about sixty. “This is the only time we face this situation this season,” says Jérôme MONDAIN. “The two championships won‟t clash any more after this weekend. That said, the exercise will be good practice for Le Mans where we will have a staff of 100 and up to 8,000 tyres to look after because of the higher number of cars we will be working with.”