SUPERCARS has made a late change to the tyre allocation for the Repco Bathurst 1000 amid forecasts of ongoing inclement weather.
The category has issued an extra set of wet weather Dunlop control tyres to each car, increasing the allocation from five to six sets.
Known as the ‘event allocation’, those tyres are to be used from qualifying onwards and are in addition to that allowed for practice only.
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Forecasts for a wet week at Mount Panorama meant the wet tyre allocation was the talk of the Supercars paddock on Wednesday.
Supercars issued a note to teams on Wednesday morning clarifying that the allocation was five sets.
Opinion among teams was split as to whether five sets would be enough, given that there are seven compulsory pitstops in the race.
Confirmation that an extra set has been granted came on Thursday morning, where Practice 1 took place on slick tyres – but with wet track verges catching out several runners.
Motorsport Australia stewards noted the late rule change was “on the grounds of safety due to the forecast inclement weather”. The change required sign-off from all teams.
Each car also has 52 new hard compound slick tyres in its event allocation.
Meanwhile, Dunlop has developed a new wet tyre for use on the Gen3 cars next year, which is said to offer a “mind-blowing” improvement in grip over the current variant.
