TYRES GOING SUPER SOFT
The introduction of Dunlop’s new super soft tyre compound will add further spice to the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship, as part of the trend to have softer-compound tyres become the norm.
D
unlop’s new super soft tyre will make limited appearances in 2021, but its introduction marks another step in the direction towards the faster yet highly degradable tyre becoming the standard tyre in Supercars. The 2021 season marks the first time there will be three dry-weather tyre compounds used over the course of a championship campaign, in a year in which Dunlop celebrates its 20th season as the control tyre supplier of Supercars. The new super soft tyre was given its first hit-out at Queensland Raceway in
November 2020 with Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Jamie Whincup and Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison. Its racing debut is set for the Winton and Darwin events in 2021. As opposed to 2020, there’s no mixed tyre compound events in 2021. This will avoid the jumbled set of results across an event, as witnessed in 2020, which often depended heavily on which compound tyre was used in which race. However, the use of the softer tyres across the whole event/race means tyre degradation be will even more of a factor. The hard tyre will only be used at Mount Panorama,
Bathurst, and Pukekohe, New Zealand, given the high loads on the tyres at those circuits. The soft tyre will be used at the rest of the events, aside from the two aforementioned events on the super soft tyre. Drivers have been pushing for the increased use of softer tyres in recent years, not only as it gives them more grip but also as tyre management becomes a greater factor in their performance and results. “Dunlop is excited to offer a new super soft tyre in 2021 alongside the soft, hard and wet tyre configurations to help Supercars deliver the most exciting racing possible for the fans,” said Dunlop Tyres managing director, Chris Radin.
“Tyre management strategies will become an even more important variable in race winning success, generating plenty of Dunlop tyre talk up and down pitlane, while keeping race fans thoroughly entertained.” Dunlop first introduced a soft tyre in Supercars at Winton in 2009. Its use saw lap times tumble and gave Supercars the option to use both hard and soft tyres in a race to mix up the field. The move away from mixedtyre events is to avoid confusing the audience with drivers on different tyres and avoid the trend of drivers sacrificing a race to save tyres to go all-out in another race.
Dunlop is celebrating its 20th season as the control tyre supplier of Supercars with the introduction of a new super soft compound.
12
SUPERCAR XTRA
SCX121 p12 Analysis Tyres_converted 12
9/4/21 11:32 am