Le Mans is Michelin’s ‘Battleground’ – Henry-Biabaud

This weekend the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race takes place at the historic French circuit, and for ‘local’ manufacturer Michelin the event holds particular significance. According to Michelin motorsport director Frédéric Henry-Biabaud, the Le Mans race is Michelin’s “home battlefield” and losing at Le Mans is “out of the question.” But after securing ten consecutive victories, the motorsport director expresses every confidence that Michelin’s winning streak will continue.

It was a very good result for Michelin,” said Henry-Biabaud. “It was also an extremely memorable race thanks to the arrival of Peugeot to compete against Audi.” With the addition of Peugeot, Michelin now supplies more than 60 per cent of the field. “For us, that presented an additional challenge, as we needed to make sure that we supplied those two teams – as well as everybody else – with absolutely equal equipment. It was essential to be completely impartial with everybody.

“It’s true that we supply a lot of teams,” comments Henry-Biabaud, “but in the end it’s those teams that have chosen us, because we give them good tyres and top quality service….Every year we are careful not to become complacent: all it takes is one false move for our reputation to suffer.”

In terms of competition, Frédéric Henry-Biabaud expresses no desire to see a situation akin to Formula One. “It’s my genuine wish that we had some more competition,” he states. “We never asked for a situation whereby we hold a virtual monopoly. I really hope that the increased media coverage endurance racing is getting now will lead to some more people getting involved – especially other tyre companies.

“We’re involved in endurance racing here at Michelin because it’s our battleground – and we hope that other companies will come and try to take us on,” Henry-Biabaud concludes. “Endurance racing matches the philosophy of all our products and it’s a discipline that corresponds perfectly with our brand values: performance, consistency, and longevity, whether that’s over 100 or 100,000 kilometres.”