Michelin lays out development plan for next-gen Hypercar/GTP tire
Michelin has drawn up a new roadmap for the development and rollout of its forthcoming range of Hypercar and GTP tires, which were initially slated to debut in 2025 but have been pushed back a year to the start of the 2026 season.
RACER spoke with Michelin’s sportscar operations manager Pierre Alves in the wake of the brand’s decision, which was first communicated in July. By delaying, he explained, Michelin has bought itself sufficient time to refine its new compounds and produce enough stock in time for off-season testing next year.
“The decision to delay was taken prior to the development test that we did (at CoTA) on the 27th of July,” he said. “We knew at the end of July that we would not be able to achieve a new range before 2025.”
Multiple factors led to the move, including supply chain issues and a reduction in its planned testing time due to poor weather earlier in the year.
Multiple factors led to the move, including supply chain issues and a reduction in its planned testing time due to poor weather earlier in the year.
“The main reason is simple,” he said. “One of the suppliers we used for a new material that we want to introduce was not ready to provide enough product for the WEC championship. It’s a big production for both championships, and the supplier said the quantity is too much. So we knew it would be difficult to be ready and we cannot introduce a product that is not sustainable.
“The current range works very well in both championships, so we’ve postponed. And we feel that while it would be feasible to produce just two compounds for 2025, it would decrease the performance of the tires dramatically.
“Across IMSA and WEC, we race at so many types of circuits in very different climates. We don’t want to bring new tires that go faster, we want tires that are safer in terms of warm up and more consistent, and this what we are achieving.”
This new material forms a key part of Michelin’s ambitious target to produce slick tires for the WEC and IMSA made from more than 50 percent sustainable materials.
RACER asked Alves for more details on the material in question, but he wasn’t able to disclose any further information at this stage. He did reveal, though, that the new breakthrough material is “used for the composition of the tire compound” and reiterated that it should enable Michelin to hit its aforementioned sustainability target.
He also stressed that Michelin feels it is paramount to launch the new range in both IMSA and the FIA WEC at the same time. “We won’t just produce these tires for one championship,” he said.
Feedback from testing to this point has been positive. The run at Circuit of The Americas over the summer, which was attended by the majority of the LMH and LMDh manufacturers, produced impressive results.
“It was remarkable,” Alves said. “This new product increases the endurance of the tire, but not the grip and we achieved similar performance levels to the tires we are using this year, with the increase in sustainable materials.”
Development work on the new range is not yet complete though, in part because Michelin lost a lot of track time in Europe earlier this year when its major test back at Portimao was washed out.
“The conditions were so bad it wasn’t even useful as a wet tire test, because if we were racing it would have been red-flagged,” said Alves. “So we have to do another development loop to make sure the tires are ready for Daytona in January 2026 and February 2026 for Qatar.
“We are working very hard on a schedule. We have planned to do a wet development test in Paul Ricard this month, and we have invited all the teams and OEMs. We will also stay on the Tuesday after the Bahrain WEC race, with all the teams on site. That will be a slick loop.
“After that, we plan to complete another loop in Qatar in 2025, and we are working to find a date because Ramadan is on the Saturday after the race.
“Ideally, we would test on Sunday morning, but we have to see. Then we plan to do some running around the Imola WEC weekend before a final decision on the spec for 2026 is made in May, after Spa.
“In parallel, we have development loops in the USA for IMSA teams planned during the sanctioned test this November. Then we plan to test next March at Sebring March, close to the 12 Hours.”
After track testing is complete and the final specifications for its three slick compounds are signed off, Michelin will begin producing the tires towards the end of June.
The first batch will be shipped to the United States in time for the end-of-year IMSA test in Daytona.
Teams racing in the WEC will also receive their first batches for use in private testing around that time, as they prepare for the start of the 2026 season.
For more information: www.racer.com
For more Industry News, please Click Here
For more information: www.racer.com
For more Industry News, please Click Here
