Insight: How Goodyear is Building for a Long-Term Future in Sports Car Racing
Inside the American tire brand's commitments to LMP2, LMGT3, future aspirations in ACO-rules endurance racing...
Anyone watching this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, whether in person or on TV, won’t have failed to notice one major cosmetic change to the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe: the change of branding from the famous Dunlop Bridge to the Goodyear Bridge.
Once sister brands under the Goodyear umbrella, the two tire companies are now more or less completely separate entities after Sumitomo Rubber Industries acquired worldwide rights to the Dunlop brand from the American company.
The switch of Le Mans’ most famous piece of trackside advertising is the latest manifestation of a growing commitment to the FIA World Endurance Championship, which began when Dunlop was phased out in favor of Goodyear ahead of the 2019-20 season.
Goodyear then became the sole supplier to the LMP2 class starting in 2021, and three years later, when GTE-Am made way for LMGT3, the Ohio-based firm landed the initial three-year contract to supply the new category. That deal has since been renewed for a further three seasons through to 2029, as announced last month at Le Mans.
According to Xavier Fraipont, who took on his current brief of Vice President, Racing for Goodyear last year, the new deal is a vote of confidence in the work Goodyear has done to ensure a good experience for all nine manufacturers competing in the LMGT3 class.
“It builds on our legacy,” says Fraipont. “We’ve demonstrated our capability to run in the series, to build on what we had done before for many years in endurance racing.
“We’ve shown the pace, we’ve shown also that already at that time we could make the tires which were immediately giving drivers confidence; the famous warm-up issues that some may have, we have been capable really to work hard there and to give that confidence immediately, and also to have that endurance performance.
“I think another of the big reasons why we’ve been trusted is the service – how we handle all the race teams, the way our engineers work with them and help them make sure our tires are used to the best of their capabilities. So those are the things which I think convinced the FIA and ACO to trust us again for another three years.”