Drivers expect new tyre, formats to 'spice up' racing

"Everyone's pretty excited to have the chance to actually be able to drive those things a bit harder"

Drivers are excited by the challenge the new-for-2025 Soft tyre construction, which will debut this season following a year of development.

The new Soft tyre will make its competitive debut at Round 1 at Sydney Motorsport Park on February 21-23, with drivers to tackle a 100km sprint and dual 200km races. Click here to see a breakdown of the formats and tyres for each 2025 round.

Dunlop's control Soft tyre is a brand-new construction for 2025, with the previous Hard and Soft tyre no longer in use. Through testing, the new Soft tyre has been touted as being faster and, crucially, more durable.

As seen in tyre testing, drivers will have to work harder, and are in turn expected to race harder.

At a Queensland Raceway tyre test day last year, Nick Percat’s heart rate on a 25-lap run on the old tyre was 150 beats per minute. On the development tyre, it was 190.

"I think this new tyre is gonna spice up the racing. I'm pretty excited to see what it does for our series,” Erebus Motorsport driver Jack Le Brocq told Supercars.com.

“I’m keen to get out there and attack a bit more. I think that's going to be the biggest thing. Among most drivers, everyone's pretty excited to have the chance to actually be able to drive those things a bit harder.

“If that’s the case, we’re going to have a bit of a slog out there.”

While there won’t be any instances of different tyre compounds being used in a race, different tyre compounds will be used for each Saturday sprint at the Super 440 rounds.

The outcome? Less predictable racing, given the winning strategy often emerges after the first race at a round with only one tyre compound.

The teams that start on the front foot will be the ones to beat, as explained by Team 18 veteran David Reynolds: “There's a new tyre coming next year which is going to change everyone's perception on set-up, and hopefully we're on the front foot for that.”

Triple Eight Race Engineering boss Jamie Whincup, who competed in multi-compound races in years gone past, believes the change is a good move, even if it creates an “engineering nightmare."

“I think the key is we have learnt from the dual compounds in the same race. We don’t want to go back there, that didn’t work,” Whincup said last year.

“But different compounds for different races, it’s a bit of an engineering nightmare.

“Once again it’s going to throw a spanner in the works and it’s going to be an opportunity for the best engineers to show their skill to be able to get the car to work on one tyre and the next, and a short race and a long race.

“It’s all good stuff.”

When asked how drivers will tackle the new Super 440 format, Le Brocq added: “We’ll have to get in the car and drive as hard as possible.

“Look, I'll be a big fan of it if we get it right as a team, and get the set-up right between the two tyres. But I think it will mix the field up, it's going to be very interesting.

“Some teams and drivers will get on top of it probably sooner than others. You'll probably see a few mixed-up qualifying sessions, which will also create good racing.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge, I'm sure like all of us are.”

Tickets for the season-opening round in Sydney, on February 21-23, are on sale now.