The Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour is set to move to a control tyre next year in a bid to level the playing field for GT3 competitors.

The move follows unrest among teams at the 2016 event, where those on Michelins struggled to keep up with their Pirelli rivals.

Pirelli’s pole and victory came amid suggestions that the Italian firm had flaunted regulations requiring the tyres to be commonly available and not specifically made for the circuit.

Pirelli is heavily tipped to win the control contract for 2017, adding to its existing deals with the Australian GT Championship and the Blancpain GT Series.

Bathurst 12 Hour boss John Casey attended the recent 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium, where a meeting with Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembrey is understood to have taken place.

Casey confirmed to Speedcafe.com that he hopes to soon confirm a control tyre contract in the interests of parity.

“We adopted the Balance of Performance (from the Blancpain Series) because it’s a fantastic structure and platform for competitors,” Casey told Speedcafe.com.

“It provides massive confidence from the competitors in terms of the event and the BoP is based on a single tyre.

“So to introduce multiple tyres into the equation makes the BoP less perfect.

“It’s an extra variable in a formula where you’re actually trying to take away variables.”

Casey met with various GT3 teams and manufacturers at Spa, hoping to recruit more international competitors to next year’s event.

February will mark the seventh 12 Hour to run to the GT3 regulations and the first to allow all-Pro driver line-ups.