IMSA – Couasnon: “A great challenge for Michelin”

Since when have you been thinking about getting involved in IMSA ?

We are present in Endurance on the American continent for a long time since we were a partner of the ALMS. Fusion (ALMS-GrandAm in 2014. Editor’s note) and the various partnerships signed meant that Continental took the majority of the series. But we have always kept the GTLM, a category unanimously considered to be the best in the championship. So we always monitored how the series evolved.

What motivates this significant investment by Michelin in all series managed by IMSA, including the IMSA SportsCar Championship?

In terms of high-end tires and sports cars, the three big markets are Europe, North America and now China. It was therefore important for Michelin to have a significant presence in North America and among the American championships, the one that best fits our image is Endurance and therefore IMSA. If we wore the best category, we could not aim for scratch victories. There are, moreover, many manufacturers, among which I include those engaged in GTD (GT3 technical regulations. Editor's note) who asked us if it was possible to have Michelins outside of Europe and that was a criterion that pushed us to come back.

We know that Continental is sometimes in difficulty. Were there many candidate manufacturers?

I understand it was just us and Continental. But as soon as the news was made official, we received messages from various competitors telling us of their satisfaction and that's nice. This proves that, potentially, there was a need. IMSA is doing well and I hope that the fact that Michelin is a partner will further strengthen the series. The DPi seems to be off to a pretty good start and it will be a great challenge for Michelin.

Are you going to offer competitors tires similar to those of the LM P2 in WEC and ELMS ?

The desire to be as close as possible is obvious, but it is important that the drivers and the cars can also express themselves. As the circuits are very different, we will certainly have to develop other specifications.

Especially since currently, whatever the category, the IMSA regulations are less restrictive than the WEC or the ELMS in terms of the number of sets of tires used?

The fact of not being limited in terms of tires leads to different technical solutions but should we discuss with IMSA a possible change in the rules, because being constrained in terms of the number of tires allocated, this leads to strategy and represents a challenge for us. Motorsport is a spectacle, but it must also be able to offer us challenges.

Could the tires, therefore, be confidential?

We don't know yet, it's not completely decided. If we have to get closer to the rules of the current LM P2, it will not be very complicated because we have no opposition and we have products that hold up, even if we would need one or two teams of points to demonstrate their quality. All this will emerge over the course of the year, since we will, obviously, test in 2018.

You are on your own, but would you be opposed to the presence of another tire manufacturer?

For the moment, the championship is governed by the single manufacturer rule. But we suggested that IMSA consider the possibility of opening the DPi category in the future. They are not opposed to it but first want to give us time to come back and get our bearings and the subject will be discussed again later.