Being able to tell which cars are on Dunlop’s Sprint tyres – and which are not – will be very easy at Symmons Plains this weekend.
Dunlop has increased the width of the white stripe on the softer compound Sprint tyre, allowing officials, trackside fans and home viewers the best possible chance of recognising which cars are on the faster rubber.
This weekend at the Tasmanian circuit, two sets of Sprint tyres has been allocated each V8 Supercars entry, with one set to be used on Saturday and Sunday. The teams also get their regular allocation of four sets of harder compound tyres.
Dunlop Motorsport manager Kevin Fitzsimons said that the change is aimed at helping people understand the racing better.
“We’re just trying to make it more identifiable, not only for the TV audience, but the punters at the track as well,” he told Speedcafe.com.au.
“We’ve widened the stripe a bit, and the white seems to work better on TV. It’s our fifth version of paint that we’ve used to make it stay on there, so fingers crossed it works!”
Saturday’s race is over 120km with one compulsory pit stop, while Sunday’s race is longer, held over 200km, including two pit stops.
Fitzsimons says that most teams will aim to complete all of Saturday’s race on the Sprint tyre, without using the harder ‘Control’ rubber.
“I reckon you’ll find guys who will do that whole race on the soft tyre,” he said.
“You’ve got the option of, maybe, starting on the harder tyre, pit very early or hope for a Safety Car. Maybe then your tyres will be better at the end …
“Either way, it’s going to be a conservation race, not only for fuel but for tyres as well. I don’t think that was V8 Supercars’ objective with the Sprint tyre, but they have moved it up from 100km to 120km since last year, trying to make it a little bit harder.
“It will be interesting. You’ll find that the majority of the teams will start their cars on the Sprint tyres and then see how it pans out from there.”
For more on this weekend’s V8 round at Symmons Plains CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com.au’s V8 Race Guide.
