New development wheels to be tested at The Bend

A new Supercars rim design is set to be tested at The Bend Motorsport Park.

An aggressive spoke design has been used since the Gen3 ruleset debuted in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.

The current wheel design been repeatedly blamed for interlocking incidents, with the issue coming to the fore this year after racing rules were freed up.

Supercars has developed new wheels, which have been brought to The Bend Motorsport Park, the host of this weekend's AirTouch 500 at The Bend. The spoke design (seen in the picture below, on the right) has been tweaked to prevent interlocking when wheels are positioned together.

Three sets of development wheels will be in use for testing purposes, with two sets allocated to the Tickford Racing wildcard entry, and one set to the Blanchard Racing Team.

"Supercars can confirm that three sets of development wheels are currently in use for testing purposes, with two sets allocated this weekend at Tailem Bend to the Tickford wildcard entry and one set to the Blanchard Racing Team," a Supercars spokesperson said.

"The wheels show no visual difference from the current specification. However, a subtle change has been made to the spoke design to prevent interlocking when wheels are positioned together.

"Pending the outcome of ongoing testing, Supercars intends to phase in the updated design across all cars at a date to be confirmed."

It comes after Supercars conducted a Safety Car procedure trial during Friday's Practice 3, with drivers undertaking a test of 'slow zones'.

Co-drivers will kick off Saturday's action with Practice 4 at 9:50am local/10:20am AEST, followed by Practice 5 at 12:00pm local/12:30pm AEST.

All drivers will take to the track for Boost Mobile Qualifying at 3:05pm local/3:35pm AEST, which will set the running order for the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 4:50pm local/5:20pm AEST.