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nity nestled in the paddock, serving as the launchpad for
nearly 100 personnel whose primary mission is to deliver
the best tire performance, service, innovation, and experience
to the teams, drivers, and race fans.
In 2019, Michelin established a 24,000 square foot tent as
part of a 27,000 square foot footprint in the paddock. The
tent housed approximately 16,000 tires, with over 30 variants
of construction and compound, for four racing series:
three in IMSA, and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
There were 42 fitters and 55 engineers and motorsport
tire specialists on hand specifically to work with the
race teams to optimize the performance of the MICHELIN®
tires on track. Indeed “the big tent” played host to Michelin
Motorsport’s largest ever race event at Super Sebring
2019, surpassing even the scale of tires and personnel to
support the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
At first glance, one could miss the correlation between
what is happening at the Michelin Workshop, and the 28
product and Guide launches of One Michelin. However,
Michelin Motorsport is the embodiment of One Michelin,
with its people, principles, and processes. In addition to
Michelin’s core Motorsport team in North America, many
of the Michelin Tire Specialists working with IMSA teams
have other full time jobs in the company, and devote their
weekends to supporting Motorsport. All Michelin Tire Specialists
have been trained by the Motorsport team, but bring
with them a wealth of experience and perspective from
their “day jobs,” which range from tire designer, production
engineer, test driver, quality manager, to sales manager,
supply planner, and product marketing. Beyond just the
roles, the team represents product lines from heavy truck
and RV, to TWEEL (an airless tire design), passenger vehicles,
and of course, competition tires. Michelin Motorsport
has much to gain from the diverse experience of its people,
and they can return to their “day jobs” with the experience
of supporting the most exacting and demanding proving
grounds for Michelin’s tires and services: Competition.
All of these people are working to support Michelin’s pursuit
of sustained mobility, helping to develop new products
while using fewer resources.
Michelin Motorsport is one of the true melting pots of experience
and technology sharing, well poised to support
One Michelin.
IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup
Battle Moves to Round 2 in Sebring
As one might expect in the battle for the 2020 IMSA Michelin Endurance
Cup, the winning teams in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona
find themselves at or near the top of the standings heading into this
weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance
Auto Parts, the second of four Michelin Endurance Cup rounds.
In the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, the Rolex
24-winning No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R squad and its
quartet of drivers from that race – Renger van der Zande, Ryan
Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Kamui Kobayashi – hold a five-point lead
in the standings over the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSports
Cadillac team of Joao Barbosa, Sebastien Bourdais and
Loic Duval.
This weekend, it’ll be van der Zande, Briscoe and Dixon working
to maintain the No. 10 squad’s lead as Kobayashi shifts his focus
back to the FIA World Endurance Championship and his Toyota
LMP1 machine. The No. 5 Mustang Sampling entry and Barbosa,
however, are no strangers to the top of the Michelin Endurance
Cup standings winning each of the first four Michelin Endurance
Cups from 2014 through 2017.
It’s safe to say this battle is still far from over.
The same can be said for the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, where the
No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GT3 team and Rolex 24 winners Jesse
Krohn, John Edwards, Augusto Farfus and Chazz Mostert hold a
scant, one-point lead over the second-place trio of Earl Bamber,
Laurens Vanthoor and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 912 Porsche
GT Team 911 RSR. Just five points out of the lead are two-time defending
Sebring winners Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki in
the No. 911 Porsche with their new-for-2020 endurance teammate,
Matt Campbell.
The Rolex 24 victory also placed GT Daytona (GTD) class winners
Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Corey Lewis and Andrea Caldarelli
atop the Michelin Endurance Cup standings in their No. 48 Paul
Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 by three points over the
No. 44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini squad of John Potter, Andy Lally,
Spencer Pumpelly and Marco Mapelli.
Also within five points of the GTD leaders is the No. 88 WRT
Speedstar Audi Sport team of Daniel Morad, Mirko Bortolotti, Rolf
Ineichen and Dries Vanthoor. Bortolotti and Ineichen won last
year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in a Lamborghini.
It’s a little different picture in the LMP2 class, where the second
place finishing team in the Rolex 24 – the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen
Motorsports ORECA squad of Simon Trummer, Nick Boulle,
Gabriel Aubry and Ben Keating – stands atop the Michelin Endurance
Cup standings. It’s a one-point advantage, 18-17, over the
race-winning No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA team of Henrik
Hedman, Ben Hanley, Harrison Newey and Colin Braun.
There are plenty of twists and turns ahead before champions will
be crowned. In the Twelve Hours, points will be awarded and the
four- and eight-hour marks, as well as at the finish. The four-race
competition also includes the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at
Watkins Glen International on June 28 and the season-ending 10-
hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on
Oct. 10.
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