June 27, 2024
The Italian team, Ferrari, is the big winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans. © Michelin Motorsport on X (Twitter)
This Saturday, June 15, the 24h of Le Mans, a traditional endurance race, returned for a 92nd edition marked by capricious weather, enough to highlight the different tire strategies.
The Auvergne tires emerge victorious. This Saturday, June 15, the 24 hours of Le Mans, a traditional endurance race, returned for a 92e edition marked by capricious weather. Enough to highlight the different tire strategies. Michelin Motorsport, one of the competition’s partners, supplied all the tires to all the teams, including the Italian team Ferrari. who is the big winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans with 11 victories to her credit.
Tires, a major challenge
The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been one of the most iconic races in motorsport since 1923. For the 2024 edition, the rain was present for several hours. The perfect opportunity to highlight the different strategic points of each manufacturer.
And at this point the work of technicians comes into play. “You have to understand when to run the soft, medium and hard tires” says Pierre Alvas, endurance manager at Michelin Motorsport.
According to the endurance manager, “with the showers we had after three hours of racing, some manufacturers took the risk of staying with slick tires on the track while others chose to switch to rain tires thinking that the rain would intensify. The Teams who chose to take the risk gained time since the rain stopped and the others had to stop in the boxes and put on slick tires.”
Tires play a big role in every race: “It’s the contact the car has with the track. So you have to choose the right tire at the right time.” For Pierre Alvas, advising technical teams in races is a long process. The Auvergne tire company tests its tires using a simulator specific to each manufacturer. « We can simulate different conditions like track temperatures, we can test new car settings. We try to optimize the understanding of the use of tires and cars » explains Pierre Alvas. The Michelin Motorsport teams travel to manufacturers’ tracks from time to time to validate the tests carried out virtually.
“Michelin is involved in endurance races to prove, to learn,…”
This is an essential business for stables. Michelin Motorsport has, for several years, a major partner for one of the biggest world endurance championships. For several years, the company ” is involved in these endurance races to prove, to learn and to develop new technologies that we put on our tires » says Pierre Alvas.
In addition to supplying the tires, Michelin Motorsport works with the various teams all year round, notably by providing team technicians. These are in all ten technicians from the Auvergne company present in the nine manufacturers of the 24 hours of Le Mans.
