The key talking points of F1-style Perth practice

More Gen3 knowledge, track conditions and tyre strategy will be at the forefront for drivers and teams in Perth's  90-minute practice session.

The Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint will get underway with a single 90-minute practice session on Friday.

It’s the only chance for drivers to reacquaint themselves with Perth before going straight into knockout ARMOR ALL Qualifying on Saturday.

Practice sessions at SuperSprint events typically run for 30 minutes, while Bathurst sessions run for 60 minutes.

It’s a far cry to Albert Park, where — despite the event going for four days — drivers only spent up to 30 minutes on track.

Given lap times in Perth are sub-60 seconds, drivers will have ample time to get their heads around the track and their new cars.

“Going to a different track with these cars, there’ll be plenty of learning throughout the weekend,” Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale said.

“Adapting on the fly seems to be key at the moment and hopefully rolling out fast.

"With Gen3, we don’t know exactly what to expect, but we can expect good racing."

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert added: “I love going to Perth, the track is fast and physical which makes it a lot of fun to drive as well as entertaining for the fans.

“The hour and a half practice session on Friday will be an awesome opportunity to get an understanding of how the Gen3 car reacts to this track.

“The Grand Prix was a bit of an up and down one, we learnt heaps about the Mobil 1 Optus #25 car, we have regrouped, and we are ready to go again in Perth.”

Each car, however, is allocated just two sets of ‘handback’ tyres for the session.

Brad Jones Racing’s Macauley Jones said tyre strategy in the long session will be a talking point, but feared losing the whole session should teams strike trouble.

"It's a lot of strategy in terms of when you run your tyres,” Jones said.

“Generally when you've got the two practice sessions of half an hour, everyone tends to be on the same wavelength, whether you're on the tyres at the start, or at the end.

"Generally by the end of practice everyone in the last five minutes is putting greens on. So you have a very good reference.

“You might have a bit of a different strategy for different people doing race runs and then seeing where the evolution of the track goes.

“When you've only got that one session of 90 minutes, the evolution is going to be a little bit but it's not going to be as much as doing a 30-minute session."

Track conditions will also be a talking point, given the abrasive surface and Perth’s climate.

The circuit was resurfaced in 2019, but had degraded by the time Supercars returned in 2022.

"It’s going to be interesting to see how the track evolves even since last year. We saw a pretty big drop between 2019 when it was new and last year,” Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill said.

"Whether it follows a similar trend, these Gen3s are pretty hungry on the rear tyres, so it will be really interesting to see how much it plays into it.

"It could make the strategy super important if there are opportunities to gain places by pitting early, but you can then pay for it later on.”

The 90-minute practice session will commence on Friday at 2:25pm local time.

Supercars will return on Saturday for three-part knockout qualifying and the 42-lap Race 7 of the 2023 championship.

Tickets for this weekend’s Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.