The new Goodyear Eagle Hard LMGT3 tyre has been officially revealed ahead of its racing debut in FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of São Paolo. The new tyre will be used by all LMGT3 teams this weekend and at selected rounds later in the season.
Launched following the pre-event press conference, the new tyre is visually distinguishable by its red sidewall lettering. As Goodyear only brings one type of slick tyre to each race, it is the sole slick tyre available for LMGT3 teams this weekend.
Relentless development in LMGT3 tyre performance
The new tyre builds upon the success of Goodyear’s Eagle Medium LMGT3 tyre which has been used at every race since the class’ launch 18 months ago. The durability and longevity of this tyre was clear to see in last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, where teams were completing as many as four stints (equal to 40 laps or almost 550 km) on a single set of tyres as Mike McGregor, Goodyear’s Head of Endurance Racing EMEA, explains:
“Teams feel very confident on the Eagle Medium tyre after working with it for a season and a half so far. At Le Mans, we heard from many teams that the tyre could have lasted longer than four stints, but they were instead changing tyres ‘prematurely’ due to driver changes and drive time limits. Teams were running the tyre for four stints even on the test day, when we would normally expect them to run a tyre for two or maybe three stints, due to the track not being ‘rubbered in’ until later in the race week. This impressive durability is testament to the excellent work of our R&D teams, who developed a tyre that is forgiving and driveable for the class’ amateur drivers without compromising on the pace demanded by the pros.
“Despite this success, we wanted to advance our performance, this is why we’ve been hard at work developing the new Eagle Hard tyre. While its name does point to a stronger compound than the Eagle Medium, we have designed it not with additional longevity in mind but to build on the Eagle Medium’s consistent pace over the course of multiple stints. Expect to see drivers setting faster lap times well into their second stint, as this tyre keeps its performance at a more consistent level further into its life.”
With its tight corners, heavy braking zones and frequent elevation changes, São Paolo’s Interlagos circuit is the perfect location to debut the new tyre. Since last year, the track has been resurfaced twice, which has added additional excitement as teams learn about the changes.
After São Paolo, Goodyear plans to bring the Eagle Hard tyre to the WEC rounds at Circuit of The Americas (7 September) and Bahrain (8 November), while returning to the Eagle medium at Fuji (28 September). LMGT3 teams in the European Le Mans Series will continue racing on the Eagle Medium for the rest of their season.
