Porsche Australia's Carrera Cup and GT3 Cup Challenge classes will compete on different tyres next year after confirmation that the latter series will switch from Michelin to Pirelli.
Pirelli's Australian motorsport distributor, Trofeo Motorsport, has been announced as a presenting partner of the second tier series, which caters for gentleman racers with older specification Carrera Cup cars.
The series had previously used the same specification of Michilen tyre as the Carrera Cup since its inception in 2008. Michelin supplies tyres to every Carrera Cup championship held throughout the world, and will continue to as a provider to the top-tier Australian championship next year.
Porsche Cars Australia motorsport manager Jamey Blaikie emphasised the importance of cost effectiveness in the GT3 Cup Challenge tender process, which included back-to-back track testing of Michelin, Pirelli and Hankook offerings at Phillip Island.
“Tyres are a huge element to racing and are a large portion of a season's budget, so we wanted to make sure the decision we made was the correct one. Therefore, we tested the best tenders thoroughly at Phillip Island,” said Blaikie.
“From the three tenders on our shortlist, the results were exceptionally close however Pirelli's Australian motorsport dealer, Trofeo Motorsport, provided the best overall package. At the end of the day, these benefits will be passed on to our GT3 Cup Challenge competitors, improving the overall package of our series.”
The GT3 Cup Challenge will again be contested over six rounds next year. The 2012 series was won by Victorian Kane Rose.