Proving Grounds
How the Hardest Miles Make Everyday Tires Better
Before a tire ever reaches your driveway, it goes through years of testing.
Some of the toughest tests happen in places most drivers will never go. A racetrack at 200 miles per hour. Above the Arctic Circle at 40 degrees below zero. Even on a lunar rover on the surface of the moon. For more than a century, tire engineers have turned to extreme environments to push new ideas further and faster than ordinary roads allow. These proving grounds expose tires to extraordinary demands, helping engineers test technologies, materials and designs under conditions few people will ever experience.
Find out how the latest innovations make their way from the world’s harshest proving grounds to your driveway.
ExploreEndurance and Durability
When tires must perform for hours at racing speeds, the demands are relentless. Endurance racing puts tire durability and wear resistance to the test under extreme conditions, helping everyday tires last longer and perform more consistently mile after mile.
Hypercar endurance
Exclusive tire supplier for the FIA WEC Hypercar class, where durability, efficiency, wear and sustainable materials are tested under extreme conditions, then carried back to road tires.
Five hundred miles at Indianapolis
A long-running INDYCAR and Firestone platform including the Indianapolis 500, used to demonstrate ENLITEN technology under real racing conditions.
Seven decades of stock car
An uninterrupted relationship with NASCAR since 1954, and the exclusive tire across NASCAR’s top three national series.
Twenty-four hours at the Nürburgring
Competes at the 24 Hours Nürburgring, including a 2021 class win by an all-female team, and calls motorsport a proving ground for its GitiSportS2 and GitiSynergyH2 consumer tires.
Grip and Handling
At the limits of speed and control, every fraction of a second matters. Motorsports tests grip, traction and handling in constantly changing conditions, helping bring track-proven innovations to the tires people drive on every day.
Formula 1 through 2028
Sole tire supplier for Formula 1 through 2028, and for F2, F3 and F1 Academy. Racing changed how the company designs road tires, pushing it into simulation.
Road and track in one tire
The P Zero R and P Zero Trofeo RS for the Porsche 911 GT3, with the Trofeo RS built using materials and technologies derived from motorsport.
Tested by people who win
The ExtremeContact Sport was tested by championship-winning race car drivers before it was released as an ultra-high-performance street tire.
Touring cars and mountain climbs
An active TCR World Tour program with a full 2026 calendar, plus a 2026 Pikes Peak program feeding its performance line.
Electric Racing and EV Tires
Electric cars are heavier than many gas equivalents, and they deliver all their power the moment you press the pedal. That is a more difficult job for a tire. Electric racing pushes those same demands further, advancing the technology behind the next generation of EV tires.
Formula E today
Exclusive tire supplier and official technology partner for Formula E’s Gen3 era, with the 2025–2026 season its fourth and final season in that role.
Formula E next
Named by the FIA as future sole tire supplier for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship from the 2026–2027 season through 2029–2030.
From the grid to the showroom
Formula E work connects directly to the iON tire series built for electric vehicles.
Sustainable Materials and Second Life
Tire innovation through motorsports extends beyond performance. Racing pushes tires to their limits, making it an ideal environment to test renewable and recycled materials before those innovations move from the track to the road.
Half renewable, full speed
The 2026 Pilot Sport Endurance uses 50 percent renewable and recycled materials, including carbon black from old tires, recycled steel, natural rubber, and oil and silica from biowaste.
Performance beyond the track
The Extreme E CrossContact tires used 43 percent recycled materials during a partnership that ran from 2021 to 2024. Used Extreme E race tires were ground down into paving stones, with 400 square meters donated to build a youth court in Hanover-Linden.
Racing as a materials lab
ENLITEN technology is coming into Firestone INDYCAR tires, with motorsports used to demonstrate renewable and recycled material progress.
Ninety-three percent, in concept
A concept tire built with 93 percent sustainable materials, alongside a GitiSportS2+ that earned an exemplary rating in the 2026 AutoBild summer tire test.
Renewable at race pace
Racing tires supplied to the Japanese SUPER FORMULA Championship in 2026 use about 46 percent renewable and recycled raw materials, averaged across all tires.
Extreme Environments Beyond the Track
Motorsport innovation’s toughest tests happen off the racetrack. From Arctic to lunar exploration, extreme conditions push tire technology to its limits, helping engineers shape new approaches to safety and performance for the road every day.
Above the Arctic Circle
Runs the Ivalo testing center in Finland, more than 20 tracks across roughly 700 hectares north of the Arctic Circle.
Studs that read the road
The 2026 Hakkapeliitta 01 uses studs that adjust automatically based on temperature.
Tires built for the moon
Announced in June 2026 as the exclusive supplier of lunar tires for a lunar outpost’s Pegasus vehicle under NASA’s Artemis program, supporting astronaut missions beginning in 2028.
Gravel, snow and tarmac
Exclusive tire supplier across all WRC classes under a three-year contract running from 2025 through 2027.
Where the pavement ends
The Open Country R/T Pro and Open Country A/T III use protective sidewall construction and cut-and-chip-resistant tread compounds to handle demanding off-road conditions.
Q&A
Q. Does extreme testing actually make the tires I buy better?
A. Yes. Vigorous tests find materials, tread designs and constructions under stress no ordinary road can produce. Many innovations that help carmakers improve tires work their way into tires built for everyday vehicles, from family cars to school buses and commercial vehicles.
Q. What does a Formula E tire have to do with my EV?
A. Many of today’s electric vehicles are heavier and deliver power to the wheels instantly, which wears tires differently than a gas car does. Electric racing exposes those demands at their most extreme and helps engineers learn more about what works best for everyday electric vehicles.
Q. Can race tires cut tread times faster?
A. Race tires are built for different jobs, but tires share a development process. The materials, testing methods and design tools proven in competition are often used to develop the tires sold to drivers around the world.