New rule tipped to have ‘big effect’

A second trial of restrictive parc ferme rules will have a big effect on the Century Batteries SuperSprint, believes Red Bull Holden Racing Team boss Mark Dutton.

Ipswich marks the second time the rules have been rolled out, following an initial trial at the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint in April.

The rules prohibit set-up changes between ARMOR ALL Qualifying and the race, forcing teams to compromise between single-lap and race speed.

While its effect was limited at Symmons Plains, the higher degradation nature of Queensland Raceway is being touted as a different scenario.

Supercars has also tweaked the parc ferme rules for Ipswich, tyres now unable to be changed between qualifying and the race.

Asked following his team’s recent test day at the venue if the rules will have a bigger impact at Ipswich, Dutton said: “It should.

“Symmons is quite gentle on tyres, with cool conditions. QR can be cool this time of year, but not as cool as Symmons usually.

“I think you’ll see teams not able to be as aggressive [with set-ups] as they were at Symmons.

“They’ve also increased the lock-down of what you can and can’t do with tyres, that’s a big deal as well.

“I think it’ll have a big effect.”

While Dutton says it impacts how aggressive teams can be with “all aspects of set-up”, the amount of negative camber is usually the key difference between qualifying and race.

“Camber is usually the big focus, mainly because, if you have aggressive spring rates for qualifying, it generally doesn’t blow the tyres if you get it wrong in the race,” he said.

“You might lose your lap time, but it generally is not a catastrophic failure, whereas too aggressive with camber definitely can be.”

A parc ferme trial had also been scheduled for the Dunlop Super2 Series at Ipswich but was postponed.

Two Supercars practice sessions will take place today, with the top 10 from the second session getting a free pass to Q2 for Saturday’s ARMOR ALL Qualifying.