Goodyear reveals new Eagle Hard LMGT3 tire at 6 Hours of São Paolo

The new Goodyear Eagle Hard LMGT3 tire has been officially revealed ahead of its racing debut in Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of São Paolo. The new tire will be used by all LMGT3 teams this weekend and at selected rounds later in the season. 

Launched following the pre-event press conference on Friday afternoon, the new tire is visually distinguishable by its red sidewall lettering. As Goodyear only brings one type of slick tire to each race, it is the sole slick tire available for LMGT3 teams this weekend.  

Relentless development in LMGT3 tire performance 

The new tire builds upon the success of Goodyear’s Eagle Medium LMGT3 tire which has been used at every race since the class’ launch 18 months ago. The durability and longevity of this tire 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 tires as Mike McGregor, Goodyear’s Head of Endurance Racing EMEA, explains: 

“Teams feel very confident on the Eagle Medium tire after working with it for a season and a half so far. At Le Mans, we heard from many teams that the tire could have lasted longer than four stints, but they were instead changing tires ‘prematurely’ due to driver changes and drive time limits. Teams were running the tire for four stints even on the test day, when we would normally expect them to run a tire 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 tire 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 tire. 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 tire 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 tire. 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 tire 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.  

Eagle: An unmatched legacy 

This year, Goodyear celebrates the 45th anniversary of its iconic Eagle tire line, which links the brand’s racing heritage with its high-performance passenger car tires. What’s more, with the recent introduction of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 in Latin American markets, fans can now experience the same Eagle DNA on their own cars. 

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 68,000 people and manufactures its products in 53 facilities in 20 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate