V8 Supercars teams granted extra practice tyres

V8 Supercars will allocate each entry an extra set of new tyres for use during practice at Winton following recent unrest over a lack of the Dunlop rubber.

The category has confirmed the addition of four more hard tyres for Winton, which must be given back at the end of Friday practice.

It is yet to announce plans for the remainder of the season.

The current Super Sprint format, which sees a pair of 60km races on the Saturday and a 200km finale on the Sunday, will be unchanged for this weekend.

THE FINAL RACE OF THE 2023 REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST STREET CIRCUITS.
GO ALL IN AT THE VAILO ADELAIDE 500, CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

A number of options, including replacing the Saturday heats with a single 120km encounter, are understood to remain under discussion and could be introduced as soon as next month’s Hidden Valley meeting.

The addition to the tyre allocation meanwhile comes after personal intervention from V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton, who is understood to have been spurred into action by negative press coverage at Barbagallo.

Warburton flew to Perth midway through the race meeting to discuss the tyre situation with V8 Supercars technical staff and supplier Dunlop.

The tyre firm is understood to be rejigging its future production schedules to allow an extra set of Friday tyres for the remainder of the season.

Confirmation of the full tyre allocation change and any future revision to the Super Sprint race format is expected following an emergency V8 Supercars Commission meeting on Thursday.

The Commission this year trimmed the season’s allocation from 380 tyres to 292 as part of a push to save costs for teams.