Goodyear
With the first of Goodyear’s two 2024 dry-spec tyres now frozen and ready for next season, this week’s test proved to be an ideal opportunity for the manufacturers to get a taste of the new LMGT3 rubber and trial drivers for the coming season.
Goodyear’s staff supported all eight manufacturers on hand, plus the ELMS LMP2 teams that opted to stay on after the Rookie Test.
With the GT3 tyres now in full production and on sale to customers, it will continue to provide technical assistance to any teams wishing to sample the new LMGT3 Eagle F1 Supersports over the winter in private settings too.
Impressively, Goodyear claims that a third of the materials used for the tyres are sustainable, and the plan is to double that figure by 2026 as it continues to trial new solutions.
When will the second dry spec be available? Goodyear has told DSC that the target is mid-season in ’24. The tyre is being developed for use at the more aggressive tracks on the calendar. The plan is for Goodyear to dictate which of the two specs will be used for each event ahead of time, rather than handing that decision to the teams.
Its wet weather LMGT3 tyre meanwhile, is not yet frozen but is being worked on at a pace behind the scenes. The 2024 Goodyear LMGT3 wets, according to endurance programme manager Mike McGregor, are an evolution of the current GTE wet tyre, featuring lessons learned from its Nürburgring GT3 programme and has been tested extensively on the Nordschleife.
The winter test schedule for Goodyear is expected to be extremely intense, with runs planned for CoTA, Qatar, Bahrain, Barcelona, Paul Ricard, Valencia, Portimao and Monteblanco. The Monteblanco test is particularly notable, as it is open to everyone and will feature 24 hours of continuous running.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin has been running the test and development 2024-spec Vantage AMR GT3 Evo both days, for the first time on Goodyear tyres.
Heart of Racing’s current FIA WEC GTE AM drivers Ian James, Roman de Angelis and Alex Riberas all turned laps, as well as TF Sport ELMS driver Ben Tuck (on Wednesday).
Audi
An Audi Sport Customer Racing R8 LMS GT3 EVO2 was present with technical support from both Audi Sport customer Team Sainteloc and the factory.
Christopher Haase, fresh from winning the GT Open championship last weekend with Eastalent Racing, was the only designated driver, as Audi puts its plans together for a first Le Mans appearance with the R8 and Sainteloc.
This was the first test for Audi on Goodyear tyres, with the German make running exclusively on LMGT3 Eagle F1 Supersports during the two days of track action.
While a couple of teams ran Michelin and Goodyear rubber back to back this week, Audi opted to run exclusively on Goodyears, despite having confirmed entries for the Asian Le Mans Series with Sainteloc, where Michelin is the supplier.
The feedback from both Haase and Sainteloc was overwhelmingly positive, with Haase telling DSC that the Goodyear rubber for 2024 was immediately impressive on short and long runs.
“I’m pretty tired,” said Haase, after a long morning run earlier today. “Basically for me, it’s my first time with the Goodyear tyres and in this environment. I have been really surprised, the car worked straight away out of the box. I was so happy with the level of grip and feedback. It was joyous.
“We have put mileage on tyres for long runs, and on our first long run it was so promising.”
BMW
Two M4 GT3s were present in original (not Evo) spec, one in the Valentino Rossi #46 livery.
Augusto Farfus was trackside and, drove the #46. Meanwhile, Giorgio Roda, Arnold Robin and Tim Whale shared the other car.
Tuesday’s running included one near-double stint for one of WRT’s cars, with tyre wear and life report to be significantly better than the team had expected.
Kurt Mollekens, WRT GT3 programme manager told DSC. “The Goodyears are very good, we have been pleasantly surprised, though there is some work to do to get to the point where double stinting is possible.
“We hope to have some constructive conversations with Goodyear and the ACO to move towards that.
“What we can say, is that we are very impressed with the performance and consistency of the tyres. It’s been a very constructive couple of days. We will be testing again at Paul Ricard, where we will have a number of other Bronze-rated drivers with us.”
There was no sign of Hubert Haupt, who was name-checked in other media reports ahead of the test.
Ferrari
Two AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s were tested, both cars that ran last weekend in the Michelin Le Mans Cup and the ELMS Rookie Test on Monday.
Car #51 welcomed Francois Heriau. The French Bronze-ranked driver is understood to be seeking a slot in the FIA WEC with the team. Current GTE Am driver Simon Mann also turned laps in the car and the most likely scenario appears to be that pair combining with a factory Pro next season.
The #83 meanwhile, was being used for a pre-Asian Le Mans Series test for the GR Racing’s trio of Mike Wainwright, Ben Barker and Riccardo Pera. It was the first 296 test for all three drivers, who have spent both days running on Michelin tyres ahead of their trip to Asia.
DSC also spotted the notably lofty Barker in conversation with the equally vertically unchallenged Mann during the test. The 296 GT3 accommodated both, it seemed, with relative ease.
Ford
A single Ford Mustang GT3 was run by Proton Competition with very significant Multimatic and Ford Performance support.
Dirk Müller was the headline runner from Multimatic. He was joined by a slew of other talented drivers.
This included Porsche Carrera Cup GB Champ Adam Smalley, who turned laps only today. ELMS Champions Ryan Hardwick and Zach Robichon were both spotted on Tuesday taking a close look at the Mustang too, but only Hardwick is believed to have driven.
Other Silver drivers with overalls included Mikel Miller, Martin Rump, Leon Köhler, Gianmarco Leverato and ex-DTM racer Esteban Muth.
Stock car racing veteran Boris Said was present too in full Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Xfinity Series garb as a potential Bronze for the WEC effort. Boris, now 61 years young, was contacted directly by Ford CEO Jim Farley to assess interest in a programme with Proton next season.
“It’s my first time at the track and it’s amazing. It has been really fun to drive here. As for the car, it’s been quite a while since I have driven a GT3 (2017 with SunEnergy1 in an AMG), but this was an easy car to adapt to. The tyre seems very good.”
When asked by DSC if he anticipated being part of the programme, the 61-year-old said: “Well, I could say that would be the most surprising call of all, but Jim Farley asking me along to this test has already won that prize!”
Lamborghini
Iron Lynx had two Huracan GT3 Evos at the test, which were on site for the duration of the ELMS meeting the previous week.
Matteo Cressoni, Franck Perera, and Claudio Schiavoni were among the drivers who were suited and booted and drove one car.
The line-up for the other included Margot Lafitte, the daughter of ex-F1 race winner Jacques. The Frenchwoman was testing on Tuesday to become a potential Bronze-ranked addition to the Iron Dames roster.
Sarah Bovy, who was initially re-graded to Silver for 2024 but will stay Bronze after an appeal drove at the test too. She now looks more likely to return to the WEC after the FIA’s decision on her grading yesterday.
Both Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey were present and took to the track on Wednesday.
Interestingly, the Iron Dames organisation has a presence in Portimao for the CIK FIA Junior Karting World Finals that are being held this week on the adjacent kart track.
Lexus
The confirmation yesterday of Akkodis ASP being the team seeking WEC entries with the Lexus RC F GT3 finally brings certainty to the story that DSC broke back in July.
IMSA Champion Jack Hawksworth and FIA WEC World Champion Jose Maria Lopez shared the RC F on site in Portugal, which is a 2016 car that has been campaigned in Japan, the US and Europe ahead of being handed to ASP. It is now the dedicated test car.
ASP received technical support from both Toyota Gazoo Racing and TRD for this rollout. Present in the garage was ex-ORECA technical director Davide Floury, who now forms part of the Japanese brand’s senior technical staff.
This was the first outing with Lexus for ASP, and the first run for the RC F GT3 on the 2024 Goodyear tyres.
ASP is understood to have been undertaking an assessment of minor aero changes ahead of certification of an evo-version of the RC F GT3 for 2024. Multiple alternative diveplane arrangements are believed to have been trialled during the test.
McLaren
United Autosports took delivery of its first Mclaren 720S GT3 EVO at the circuit on Sunday. The car on site was a brand-new chassis (#48), and was put through its paces over the past 48 hours after being prepped on Monday by United’s on-site staff.
Tom Gamble was on hand to run the car on behalf of the factory and to support Silver-ranked Garnet Patterson and Bronze driver Yasser Shahin, who sampled the car across both days.
All three drivers have previously raced for United in a variety of LMP2 and LMP3 roles.
Goodyear staff, Aston Martin, BMW and Ferrari images from Jakob Ebrey Photography, courtesy of Goodyear. The rest, Tim Creswick.
