Ford will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year with Michelin as its exclusive tyre technology partner. Ford will have two cars at Le Mans as part of the FIA WEC series and hopes to enter four EcoBoost®-powered Ford GT cars at the famed endurance race that it won four times consecutively, from 1966 to 1969, with the Ford GT40.

Ford will compete in the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LM GTE Pro) class against other manufacturer teams including Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche. Cars in this class must adhere to strict tyre usage rules with just eight sets of tyres allocated for free practice, qualifying and warm-up and a total of 16 sets for the race itself. Michelin has partnered with 23 overall race winners, including the last 17 consecutive victories, and every winning entry in the GT class since 2007.

“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the ultimate proving ground for manufacturers to test the technology that they will eventually deliver to the street,” said Pascal Couasnon, director of Michelin Motorsport. “We are humbled to be chosen by Ford as its tyre technical partner for this exciting new program.”

“We’re very excited to have Michelin as our exclusive tyre technology partner for the Ford GT race program,“ said Dave Pericak, director Ford Performance. “They are already a key partner with us on the production Ford GT development, and there’s no question that they have world class experience in developing performance tyres for endurance sports car racing. We are thrilled to have them as part of our program.”

Michelin tyres are also found on the Ford GT road car which was unveiled at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. The all-new Ford GT supercar will exclusively feature MICHELIN® Pilot® Sport Cup 2 tyres.