Formats, tyres explained for 2024 Supercars season

On-track action will expand in the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship, which will feature more racing kilometres, more Shootouts, and more practice.

The second season of the Camaro vs Mustang Gen3 era will take place over 24 races across 12 rounds in Australia and New Zealand.

Supercars.com breaks down what the on-track action will look like this year, from practice, qualifying, race lengths and tyre allocation.

Race lengths

The 24 races will see drivers complete nearly 5500km of racing, up from 2023. There will be two endurance races featuring drivers and co-drivers, with the showpiece Repco Bathurst 1000 following the Penrite Oil Sandown 500.

The Thrifty Bathurst 500, NTI Townsville 500, Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 and VAILO Adelaide 500 will feature two 250km races.

The Super400 format, headlined by two 200km races, will be used at the inaugural ITM Taupō Super400 and Sydney SuperNight. Sydney will host the sole night race of the 2024 season.

The SuperSprint format, which is headlined by sprint races, will be used at the MSS Melbourne Melbourne SuperSprint, Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint, betr Darwin Triple Crown and NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint. These races will offer five bonus points to the driver who sets the fastest lap.

Qualifying

There will be 16 Top Ten Shootouts in 2024, up from 10 in 2023.

All events, except Perth and Tasmania, will use Format 1, grid positions will be determined by the final classification of a single qualifying session.

Format 2 is three-part knockout qualifying, where the grid is first whittled down from 25 to 20, then from 20 to 10, with the remaining 10 drivers going for pole.

There will be Shootouts for both races at the Bathurst season-opener, the Taupō and Darwin, with the latter's Shootout forming part of the hallowed Triple Crown. Both grids for the two-race Townsville, Sydney, Gold Coast and Adelaide events will also be set by Shootouts, as will the Sandown and Bathurst enduro grids.

Practice

There has been an increase in practice time on 2023.

The single 90-minute practice session, debuted in Perth last year, will be used at the Taupō Super400 and Sydney SuperNight.

In the case of Tasmania and Perth, changes have been made to ensure fans get to see Supercars on track in both morning and afternoon sessions at the event, rather than just afternoon sessions as was previously planned. There will be a 60-minute practice session on Friday, and 15-minute sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning.

There will be 30-minute sessions at the Melbourne SuperSprint and Adelaide 500, 40-minute sessions at the Townsville 500, Sandown 600 and Gold Coast 500, and 60-minute sessions at the Bathurst 500 and Bathurst 1000.

Sandown's Friday practice format will split from the previously announced two 40-minute sessions, into three 30 minute sessions. The first session will be for championship drivers only, the second for additional drivers and the third will be open to all drivers.

Tyres

The 2024 season is the 23rd for Dunlop as the control tyre supplier of Supercars. There will be three dry compounds of Dunlop's control SP Sport Maxx tyres in use (Hard, Soft, Super Soft) and the Wet Weather tyre.

The Soft tyre will be used at the Melbourne SuperSprint, Taupō Super400, Perth SuperSprint, Townsville 500, Sydney SuperNight, Gold Coast 500 and Adelaide 500. The Super Soft will be used at the Darwin Triple Crown, Tasmania SuperSprint and Sandown 500. The Hard tyre will be used at the season-opening Thrifty Bathurst 500 and the Repco Bathurst 1000.

For the Bathurst 1000, teams will also have access to two sets of intermediate wet tyres, the old-specification wet tyre. The 'hard-wet', still used in the Dunlop Series, is only permitted for use in the race, but affords teams the option of an intermediate tyre should there be adverse weather.

Pit stops

Two compulsory pit stops and a 100L fuel drop will feature at the Super500 events (Bathurst 500, Townsville 500, Gold Coast 500 and Adelaide 500).

Two compulsory pit stops will be used for the Super400 events (Taupō Super400 and Sydney SuperNight). There is no fuel drop for the Taupō Super400.

There is no compulsory stop count and no fuel drop for the enduros (Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000).

A minimum of two tyres must be changed in pit stops at the Bathurst 500, Perth SuperSprint, Darwin Triple Crown, Townsville 500, Tasmania SuperSprint, Gold Coast 500 and Adelaide 500.

The four sprints at the Melbourne SuperSprint, meanwhile, will feature no pit stops.

2024 Repco Supercars Championship formats*

Key

TTSO: Top Ten Shootout (Refer to Rule D6.3)

Format 1: Single qualifying session (Refer to Rule D6.2.2 and D7.2.1)

Format 2: Knockout qualifying session (Refer to Rule D6.2.3 and D7.2.2

WU: Warm Up

^ Means a Session run under lights at dusk/night

* Subject to change, amended April 11 2024

2024 Repco Supercars Championship tyre allocation*

Key

H: Hard

S: Soft

SS: Super Soft

W: Wet Weather

HW: 'Hard-wet' intermediate wet tyre

* Subject to change, amended September 4 2024