Michelin’s LTX Force and Latitude Cross were the tyres of choice for both WRC and WRC2 cars on the high-speed stages of Rally Finland.
The teams and drivers covered 333.99 kilometres this year, divided into 24 stages with the classic stage test ‘Ouninpohja’ being run in the opposite direction for the first time.
Michelin Motorsport provided its WRC partners with its LTX Force-branded H4 (hard compound) and S4 (soft compound) tyres for Finland for the teams. While the WRC2 partners had the option of choosing the H90 (hard compound) and S80 (soft compound) versions of the Latitude Cross-branded tyres.
Michelin’s FIA WRC Manager, Jacques Morelli said “These tyres are generally intended for cooler weather, but the sandy base of the stages here in Finland, plus the need to be able to count on good grip the moment the cars touch down after the countless jumps, along with faultless traction, meant they were run from start to finish this week.
“A potential issue was wear because the softer-compound tread blocks tend to suffer in heat. However, during the development of our WRC tyres, we dialled in a very broad spectrum of situations in order to cater for all the gravel rounds of the championship.
“That said, producing a single tyre which functions just as well in Sardinia as it does in Finland or Australia – where the ground and weather can differ greatly – is a big challenge for our engineers who have to find a solution that is sufficiently competitive and robust for all these events.
“This goes some way to explaining why we faced more competition in Poland and Finland from rival manufacturers who targeted these events more specifically, and that obviously added to the closeness of the fight. We still came out on top in both the overall standings and the WRC2 battle where there is always fierce rivalry between the different tyre brands.”
