The World Endurance Championship (WEC) are racing events leading up to the final race - 24 Hours of Le Mans - that will take place in June 2020. In a four-day festival, the WEC is back in Bahrain with an extended eight-hour event. Goodyear has re-entered the world of endurance racing this year competing with 2 cars, Jota and Jackie Chan.
Each car has three drivers within 3 FIA categories: Professional, Amateur and Gentlemen. The latest generation Goodyear Eagle SuperSport race tires were supplied to the teams with a contract beginning at the start of the 2020/2021 WEC season, following Goodyear’s 24 Hours of Le Mans comeback.
Goodyear equipped racing teams scored a double podium finish following the eventful race, that saw Jackie Chan DC Racing finishing in third-place and taking the lead in both the drivers and team class championships. They finished just behind Goodyear stablemate, the Jota Sport Oreca of Roberto Gonzales, Anthony Davidson and Antonio Felix da Costa, who came in at second place, taking the lead in the LMP2 standings.
Mike McGregor, Endurance Programme Manager at Goodyear, praised the podium winning teams' performances saying: “The FIA World Endurance Championship this year marks a milestone for us. The results so far this season, including a win in Shanghai in the LMP2 prototype class and now the championship lead following a double podium at Bahrain, demonstrates the consistent performance of the tires over long stints and our commitment to the industry.”
The Bahrain International Circuit is a challenging course with 15 turns and spanning over 5.4-kilometers in length. What’s worth highlighting is that the Goodyear engineering teams worked hand in hand with the drivers to develop the tyres that allowed them to push the limits during the FIA WEC. As for the endurance testing, the tires have gone through a gruelling total of 16,000 kilometers before the final product was developed and used in the races.
As part of our visit to the circuit and interaction with the drivers, we were able to ask them a few insightful questions:
Q. What’s the most challenging aspect of what you’re doing?
A. This is the World Endurance Championship, meaning long races with the Bahrain race specifically being 8-hours long, there will be so much going on (e.g. we might overtake 200+ cars). We will need to make sure we make zero mistakes throughout the race by taking care of our Goodyear tires and car, especially in the last hour, if we’re in a good place in the race. A lot of things happen throughout the race and we can’t really predict anything, so we will need to be aware and relaxed throughout the entire race.
Q. How do you manage the car and tires throughout the race?
A. You must have watched documentaries on racing, explaining the loss of someone in an endurance race for pushing the car beyond its capability. In fact, we are pushing the limits of our tires every lap, the cars are very reliable nowadays. Drivers must take care of the tires, in the sense of not making any mistakes. For example, faster is not always better because you will need the tires to last you 44 laps, and not only last but to also be in the optimal operation window. One set of tires in endurance racing will last you twice the duration of the Formula 1 race meaning it is very important to understand the tires on your car and its capability to be able to manage it.
Q. What tires will you be using in the race?
A. There are three types of tires (Slicks, Intermediate, Wet) we use in racing. Slicks are used for tracks that are completely dry. Intermediate tires are used for tracks that are either completely wet or completely dry. And finally, we have Wet tires used in the extreme wet weather conditions. Using the wrong set of tires will greatly affect our performance, so let’s see the weather and we will decide accordingly.
