Ferrari and Michelin Win at Le Mans This Year. Here’s What to Know.

On June 14, at precisely 4 p.m. CEST in France, 62 cars ended their formation lap on the 8.46-mile Circuit de la Sarthe by flying across the starting line to commence the 93rd edition of the world’s most revered contest in motorsport, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Since the eponymous city, about 130 miles southwest of Paris, came to prominence with its first competition in 1923, the name has become synonymous with the pinnacle of automotive performance, the race regarded as the benchmark gauntlet for automakers.

The track-focused innovation that Le Mans inspires eventually appears, at least to some degree, in the world’s finest production cars. This was especially evident this year by the numerous automakers participating in the three classes—Hypercar, LMP2, and LMGT3. In the top-tier Hypercar class alone, where output—either from hybrid or purely internal-combustion power trains—is limited to 670.5 hp and vehicle weight must be a minimum of 2,270.7 pounds, the roster comprised Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot, Porsche, and Toyota. The entire category, though, is mandated to roll on Michelin rubber. (Goodyear is the supplier for the other two classes.)

“Motorsport is a fast lab that helps us develop new technologies in the most demanding places,” says Matthieu Bonardel, global head of Michelin Motorsport. “And since you do it with the best machines and the best people, you’re pretty sure the result you get is relevant.” When asked about the relationship Michelin has with each team, Bonardel stresses that “it’s all about trust,” adding that “to get around the corner, or to break from 360 kph (223 mph) to 60 kph (37 mph), you need a lot of trust in the tire.” He also notes the personal bond involved. “We have Michelin people who are dedicated to each team, and they live with the team. So the trust is not just the product, it’s the people part of the relationship,” says Bonardel.

The French tire manufacturer, which was founded in 1889 and earned early success in bicycle racing, sent roughly 4,000 tires to Le Mans, with each Hypercar team allotted 14 sets per car, divided into soft-, medium-, and hard-compound tires, as well as ones specifically for wet conditions. The homogeneity is intended to equal the playing field while allowing independent management strategies to still play a part as the machines are pushed to the limit over the course of the Earth’s complete rotation on its axis.

Ferrari, which returned to the apex category at Le Mans in 2023 after a 50-year absence, and has won outright two years in a row, entered as a clear favorite again with its 499P. But expectations were also high for Cadillac after it gained the first two positions on the grid in the Hyperpole qualifying on June 12. Yet on the first lap, the Porsche Penske Motorsport team’s No. 5 car, piloted by Julien Andlauer, passed both cars from Cadillac Hertz Team Jota (HTJ), with the second Porsche Penske car directly behind the latter two.

The closest Ferrari was in fifth place, but that would not last long. Meanwhile, as reported on by the team at Le Mans’ official site, Aston Martin’s duo of Valkyrie AMR-LMH entries were already struggling, and before completing 10 laps, were already in the last two places among the 21-car category. The disappointing display so early on was partly due to Aston’s No. 007 car suffering tire damage and becoming the initial vehicle to enter pit lane for repairs.

Interestingly, the Hypercar teams don’t own the tires, but must rent them from Michelin to ensure tire-tech secrets remain just that. Michelin also wants each one back so that it can glean comprehensive performance data. The fine for failure to return a tire is 1 million euros, and in the case of a crash or mishap, there’s a dedicated team to collect all tire-related debris from the site so nothing falls into the wrong hands for clandestine analysis . . . who knew?

The drastic measures are understandable considering that a Hypercar tire consists of approximately 30 compounds and comprises about 200 different materials, all engineered to work synergistically over the long haul, despite the extreme use case of such endurance competition. Adding to that challenge is the drive toward sustainability.

“The difficulty is to be able to deliver the same performance as we have today… doing that with materials that are environmentally friendly,” says one of Michelin’s lead tire designers. “Sustainability has to be additive. We can’t go backward in terms of safety just to be sustainable. We have to deliver the same performance and be sustainable.”

As for that goal, the current crop of Hypercar rubber is 37 percent recyclable, but the company is optimistic about pushing that figure higher. To that end, a Michelin tire made for the all-electric Porsche GT4 e-Performance prototype achieved a claimed 71 percent, though it’s still in the concept phase.

Sustainability was certainly also the goal of the teams at the front of the pack during the final hour of the competition. The AF Corse team’s Ferrari 499P was in front, followed by Porsche Penske’s car No. 6, followed by both factory-based Ferrari AF teams. Finishing out the front five was Cadillac’s Hertz Team Jota (HTJ) car No. 12. For the LMP2 class, Poland’s Inter Europol Competition’s car No. 43 was in the lead, with the entries from France’s VDS Panis Racing and Germany’s Iron-Lynx Proton in second and third, respectively. The dominant trio in the LMGT3 group was German team Manthey 1st Phorm’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, Italy’s Vista AF Corse No.21—which is a Ferrari 296—and U.S. squad Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR, in that order.

As the clock ticked down the final seconds to 4 p.m. CEST on June 15, it was that same order for the Hypercar class at the checkered flag. Writing themselves indelibly into the history books after completing 387 laps were drivers Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Philip Hanson, taking turns in AF Corse’s No. 83. Finishing second was Porsche Penske’s No. 6, driven by Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell. They were followed by Ferrari AF’s No. 51 car, piloted by Allessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi. Bragging rights were also afforded to Cadillac HTJ’s car No. 38, which, although finishing a very respectable fifth, logged the fastest lap of 03:26:063. Inter Europol Competition’s No. 43 earned the top honor in LMP2 while Manthey 1st Phorm’s car No. 92 was the ultimate victor in the LMGT3 class.

The undeniable winner of the day, though, was certainly Michelin, and potentially the consumer if all goes to plan. “Our ambition for sustainability is for our passenger-car tire line to be 50 percent sustainable materials by 2030,” says Raymond Cotton, head of Michelin Motorsport for North America. We will obtain that in Hypercar with the new tire in 2026.” That timeline seems reasonable when you consider that, for more than a century, the road to automotive innovation has always led through Le Mans.

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