Goodyear’s new Hard compound expands WEC tire options

There’s a new tire compound in town for the FIA WEC’s LMGT3 teams this weekend at São Paulo, as Goodyear debuts its new red-labeled Hard compound in Sunday’s race at Interlagos. The Hard (previously referred to as the Medium Plus) follows a season and a half of use for the original Medium-spec F1 Eagle Supersports in the young category.

Goodyear has had the compound ready since the second half of the 2024 season, after a lengthy development phase which included track testing at circuits across Europe. However, it has waited until this week to show it off after opting to gather more data with the Medium in the WEC and ELMS in the latter half of last season and the opening stanza of 2025.

The new Hard has been designed to be most effective on more aggressive surfaces and/or tracks with higher sliding energy, in addition to having a wider operating window in more extreme climates. Therefore, Goodyear feels that this weekend’s race on the 2.7-mile Interlagos circuit presents an ideal opportunity to give it its global race debut.

“Last year, we tried to get a feel for the cars as much as possible, and decided to run at each circuit with the Medium compound to understand which ones are more demanding compared to our simulation data,” Goodyear’s endurance racing boss, Mike McGregor, tells RACER. “Meanwhile, in the background, we worked with Ferrari, BMW and Porsche, on the Hard and later gave the opportunity to the other manufacturers to run this new tire before it was physically introduced.

“If you look at the nature of São Paulo, it’s the right place for this debut. It's been resurfaced twice since we were there last year. They resurfaced the entire circuit, but then part of it had to be resurfaced again afterwards. We don't even know yet what the surface is going to look like, but it's a really demanding track. The elevation change that you have there, the way that it's so heavily loaded on the right-hand side tires, should give the teams much more opportunity to exploit performance over longevity.”

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It's important to note that even after the Hard’s debut, Goodyear will continue to select a single compound for each WEC race. This differs from rival brand Michelin, which brings two of its three slick Hypercar compounds to every round (aside from Le Mans, where the whole range is available).

Nevertheless, McGregor believes that the teams will continue to have an array of strategic options at their disposal with the new Hard.

“I'm really interested to see how some of the races will play out,” he says. “I think you know, with what we see in chassis manufacturers, that certain cars take certain advantages at certain tracks.

“There'll be some interesting parts of bringing the Eagle Hard specification, because it will mean certain teams can exploit the performance at different periods in the stint. You may see some cars more competitive in the first stint, and others find pace in the second because of the way they can exploit the performance out of this tire.”

Further down the road, the Hard has been selected for use at Circuit of The Americas and the season finale in Bahrain in November. The yellow-labeled Medium, meanwhile, will return at Fuji Speedway in October.

“We've tested the Hard in a very broad range of temperatures,” McGregor explains. “We've run it as low as five degrees in testing to make sure that it's still got that versatility, it's still got that drivability.

“We expect that same feedback on the other end of the scale at places like COTA, too. In Austin last year we saw extreme ambient temperatures of 46-47 degrees and we expect it to be suited to that. And then we're going out to Bahrain, which everybody knows is tough in terms of tire degradation.”

If the Hard proves to be as versatile as advertised, we may see it used more often in 2026, as over the off-season, Goodyear will reassess which circuits would best suit its strengths.

The WEC season opener in Qatar, scheduled for later in March, means higher temperatures are expected, making it an “open question.” Spa, even with its resurfacing, may also be up for debate. There is also the potential for it to make its debut in the European Le Mans Series.

“It’s all about choosing the optimum tire for the right track, as we don’t expect everything to stay the same each year,” McGregor added. “We will decide long in advance, though, because we don’t believe in freighting tires around the world for the sake of it.”

This milestone for LMGT3 comes at a busy time for Goodyear’s racing division. In the background, it has been working on a deal to supply the WEC’s new Legends of Le Mans historic support series in 2026 as well as developing new products for LMP2 and LMGT3.

It will refresh its LMGT3 range in 2027, with the principal aim of improving its green credentials. At present, the aim is to increase the amount of sustainable materials used to an impressive 68 percent.

“We’re very close to that target on development products, after starting LMGT3 with 33 percent,” McGregor says. “We're a tire manufacturer at the end of the day, and I think if you look at the heritage of Goodyear, it's about performance and what we deliver within that performance. Sustainability is a huge focus for us, but at the same time, the tires need to have that level of performance. We've learned a great deal in recent years.

“As soon as we signed off the Eagle Hard, we started work on the next era of GT3 tires, and I’m confident we can get there and perhaps even exceed that target.”

As for the brand’s future in LMP2, it has a contract in place to supply rubber for the next-gen cars that will debut in 2028. Now that the chassis and powertrain bidding process is over, it has started work on an all-new range.

The 2028 tires will not be an evolution of the current LMP2 specification seen in the ELMS and at the Le Mans 24 Hours, which debuted back in May. Instead, Goodyear’s engineers have started work from a “blank sheet of paper.”

“We started GT3 already at 33 percent sustainable materials, and with LMP2 we are looking to take big strides in the new era for that too, as we need to carry on that messaging as we put together a path forward,” McGregor explains.

Is LMGT3 the gateway to a bid to supply prototype tires for Goodyear? Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Looking further ahead, Goodyear appears to have wider ambitions at the top end of the motorsport tree beyond its presence in NASCAR, the British Touring Car Championship and racing on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It's expected to bid on the next (post-2029) WEC Hypercar supply contract, although there will undoubtedly be stiff competition from current supplier Michelin. The French brand currently equips both the Hypercar and IMSA’s GTP class, and recently launched a new range of slicks that will race for the first time in 2026.

“We’ve had a change in our global lead team last year,” McGregor explains when asked about Goodyear’s future plans in the sport. “Mark Stewart has come on board as our CEO, and Will Roland has taken the role of CMO. That team has said to us: ‘We want to be number one in tires and service, and we will do what it takes to get there.’

“Right now, I’m not saying we’re committed to being there, or that we want to be there, but we’re evaluating everything, every championship that’s out there.

“Goodyear is the only tire manufacturer ever to have won the quad in one year, with the Daytona 500, Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours. And we’re at the 60th anniversary of our first Le Mans win this year. I think anyone would be stupid to think that we’re not looking at everything all of the time.”

Performance, consistency, longevity and, increasingly, sustainability, look set to be the battlegrounds in the marketplace on and off track. Who said tire wars were a thing of the past?