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Soft tyre race to remain on Saturdays at SuperSprints

02 Jul 2015
The format change tried in Darwin will remain for most SuperSprint Saturdays, with one race and qualifying session on hards, the other on softs.
3 mins by James Pavey
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The Saturday 'soft tyre' qualifying and race will remain for the rest of the year's SuperSprint events, excluding Phillip Island.

After being run at the SKYCITY Triple Crown Darwin, the format - which sees drivers qualify and race first on the hard Dunlop tyre, then on the softs - mixes up the day's racing as teams work to be competitive on both tyre compounds.

The format change kicked off at Darwin, and its success and the availability of soft tyres means it will be in place for three more SuperSprint events at Queensland Raceway, Sydney Motorsport Park and Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand.

While Phillip Island is also a SuperSprint event, due to safety reasons the soft tyre is not used at the circuit.

A format review had been discussed since the Perth event in May to spice up Saturday's 60km races.

James Courtney praised the move when it was implemented for Darwin and experienced racer Jason Bright agrees anytime the drivers can race on the soft tyre, they are happy.

"The soft tyre is a good thing, anytime we race on the soft tyre is a good thing, especially in a short race where there is very limited tyre degradation," the Team BOC driver told v8supercars.com.au.

"Personally I think we need a softer tyre again! But anytime we have a soft tyre, and a bit of degradation we have good racing."

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Craig Lowndes - who celebrated 100 wins after victory in the soft tyre Saturday race at Darwin - believes it is a positive change, though he noted the resurfaced track in Darwin may have played a part in Saturday's excitement at the circuit.

"I think it definitely gives us a challenge because we don't necessarily have a prior opportunity to set it up on both sets. So it does mix it up, which is what the category is looking for," Lowndes told v8supercars.com.au.

"I think once the teams get their heads around the hard and the soft tyre there is no change in the elements, there is no difference. So everyone is going to be basically on the same page.

"Although in saying that the racing in Darwin definitely threw up a mix, but I think that was the more the fact of the new surface of the track, not the new tyre."

Lowndes had another idea to mix up the racing.

"I think it would be more interesting if they said we had a hard tyre and a soft tyre and we could use it in any one of those two races, instead of dictating which race we can and can't use because ultimately the racing could be the same," the Red Bull racer said.

The teams revert to the SuperStreet format for the upcoming Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, with the new 'soft tyre Saturday' qualifying and race continuing on at the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint from July 31 to August 2 at Queensland Raceway.

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