Darwin tyre rules clarified

V8 Supercars teams have been advised of the interpretations of the implementation of additional soft tyres at the SKYCITY Triple Crown in Darwin.

The further supplementary regulations have provided teams with a framework for the usage of the tyres following the V8 Supercars Commission mandating a soft set of Dunlop tyres for the second Saturday qualifying session and the second race of the day.

With reduced tyre allocations across the season - introduced by the Commission to reduce tyre costs - rules have now been put in place to prevent teams running wet weather tyres, to save good quality rubber, in dry conditions.

The race director must now declare the circuit wet before wet weather tyres can be used.

Director - Competition for V8 Supercars Damien White said, "While the instance of car #22 using wet tyres on a sunny day at Winton was within the rules, it was not the intent of the rules. It was an example of working within the boundaries of the rules but perhaps not the intent. This clarification closes that loophole."

Teams are only allowed to change tyres during Saturday's 60km races (which do not require pit stops) if a tyre is damaged, or if they need to switch to wet weather tyres after it is declared a wet race. Teams must elect a set of replacement hard and soft tyres in case they suffer damage. Teams pre-select these tyres from their pre-marked tyre bank.

Any tyre that is replaced during the Saturday races must be handed back on Saturday evening so teams cannot save rubber for Sunday's 200km double points race. As White explains the rules have been put in place to protect against not complying with the intent of the rules.

"It was one thing to prevent the unnecessary use of wet tyres, however we still needed to create an allowance to change a tyre. Importantly, the way we structured this amendment, it is only permitted to change a damaged tyre. You can't just change because you've had a problem in the Saturday race and want to save tyres for Sunday. Again, that's not the intent. So, they can change tyres, but they can't use the replaced tyreor tyres on Sunday."

Teams will again receive an additional set of green hard tyres to use during Friday practice/testing, which will be handed back at the end of the day and added to their testing/practice tyre bank for use later in the season.