Michelin boasts an enviable list of victories at the USA’s Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Texas, where it has enjoyed success not only in the FIA World Endurance Championship but also in MotoGP. In Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans (7 September), the brand is set to build upon that record in association with its Hypercar partners.
The final FIA WEC outing before the summer break saw Cadillac claim a milestone maiden win at Interlagos in Brazil, where its #12 and #38 Michelin-equipped V-Series.R prototypes finished first and second.
Buoyed by that result, the American marque heads to its home round of the 2025 campaign ready to tackle one of the calendar’s slowest venues – with an average Hyperpole speed of 179km/h – and also one of the toughest on tyres.
“Sector one begins with them being submitted to a force of 3g under heavy braking into Turn One after a steep, Raidillon-like 25-metre climb,” notes Pierre Alves, Manager of Michelin Motorsport’s endurance racing programmes.
“That’s followed by a sequence of nine fast corners, then another long straight, at the end of which there is more very hard braking. The last sector is relatively slow, with a triple right-hander that puts a one-tonne effort on tyres and the emphasis on mechanical grip.
“The combination of the circuit’s profile, its anti-clockwise layout, track temperatures potentially in excess of 50°C and the many bumps that remain despite recent resurfacing work puts drivers, cars and tyres to a huge test.”
To cope with these constraints, Michelin’s partners will be able to choose between the medium (yellow sidewall markings) and hard (red) MICHELIN Pilot Sport slick tyre, with the MICHELIN Pilot Sport Wet (blue) available in the case of rain. The 18 Hypercars will be authorised to run up to 18 slicks in qualifying and the race. Last year, the medium compound proved competitive in spite of the weekend’s stiflingly hot weather.
The 2024 Lone Star Le Mans produced the second-smallest winning margin in FIA WEC history, when the #83 Ferrari 499P beat the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid over the line by a mere 1.780 seconds after six hours of racing. The forthcoming 99th round of the championship promises to be every bit as tense...
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