Full 2015 V8 Supercars race formats revealed

Mixed tyre racing will feature heavily in next year’s V8 Supercars Championship following a dramatic culling of the allocation of soft compound rubber.

The V8 Supercars Commission has now ratified formats for the full 15 event calendar, including tyre allocations.

As revealed last month, the eight events utilising the Super Sprint format have had each of their two Saturday races trimmed from 100km to 60km.

V8 Supercars says that the move has been made to encourage hard racing from lights to flag, eliminating the need for tyre conservation.

The total tyre allocation for the race meetings has however been slashed from 380 tyres to 292 as the category continues to target cost savings for its teams.

The reduction has been achieved largely through limited use of the softer compound, which sees its allocation reduced from 164 tyres in 2014 to just 44 next year.

This results in nine races across nine different events featuring both types of tyres; up from just two (Hidden Valley’s Race 19 and Sydney Motorsport Park’s Race 28) this season.

All Super Sprint events bar Phillip Island will now feature a single set of softs, to be used only in Sunday’s race, which retains its current 200km duration.

This includes Symmons Plains, Winton, Barbagallo and Ipswich, which were all previously soft tyre only meetings.

The non-championship Albert Park has been switched from all softs to all hards, while the previously all soft Surfers Paradise will have just two sets of softs available, for use only on the Sunday.

The changes will dramatically increase the phenomenon of teams reusing soft tyres from one stint to the next, as seen this year at Hidden Valley.

The will particularly be the case at the Super Sprint meetings, where a total of just four sets of tyres must be stretched across five race stints (one stint in each race on Saturday and three in the two-stop Sunday encounter).

Adelaide, Sandown, Bathurst, Phillip Island and Sydney continue to be hard tyre only events, while Pukekohe will get a single set of softs added to its hards for the first time.

The allocation cut is helped by the removal of the rule introduced this year requiring teams to give a set of tyres back to Dunlop after Friday practice.

Also of note, all non-Pirtek Enduro Cup races with refuelling will feature an unchanged compulsory fuel drop requirement (140 litres for 250km races and 120 litre for 200km races).

Compulsory Pit Stops will again be seen at Sandown (four) and Bathurst (seven), while they have also been added for the Gold Coast (two per race).

While qualifying formats are largely unchanged, practice has been extended as expected in line with a reduction in private test days.

The Super Sprint events return to 2 x 60 minute Friday sessions, replacing the 3 x 20 minutes format, while additional 15 minute hit-outs have been added for Saturday and Sunday mornings.

As previously reported, teams will now have just one private test day next season instead of the previous three, while Sydney Motorsport Park’s pre-season test expands from one day to two.

Additional drivers will be permitted during practice at the non-Pirtek Enduro Cup events, ensuring that teams remain able to evaluate new drivers and give miles to co-drivers.

Practice at the Pirtek Enduro Cup meetings will continue to be the domain of nominated primary and co-drivers only.

Super Sprint – Symmons Plains, Barbagallo, Winton, Hidden Valley, Queensland Raceway, Sydney Motorsport Park, Pukekohe, Phillip Island

Super Street – Adelaide and Sydney

Super Street – Townsville

Pirtek Enduro Cup – Sandown

Pirtek Enduro Cup – Bathurst

Pirtek Enduro Cup – Gold Coast

Non-championship – Albert Park

Tyre allocation