All Supercar Track Records under Threat with New Dunlop

All Supercar Track Records under Threat with New Dunlop

All Supercar track records will be under threat this season due to the successful development of the category’s new control Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre, according to Dunlop’s Supercars Operations Manager, Kevin Fitzsimons.

Of the 15 tracks to be used by Supercars this season there are 10 different drivers who currently hold lap records and eight who own qualifying records and all of them will be competing this year.

The first records to be put under the microscope will be the 3.22km Adelaide Parklands street circuit this weekend where Fabian Coulthard set a new qualifying mark of one minute and 20.0168s last year in his DJR Team Penske Ford.

The Adelaide race lap record of 1:21.0507s was set by Jamie Whincup in a Holden Commodore back in 2012. Whincup was the closest to come to his own record last year with a lap of 1:21.5714 in Saturday'sopening race.

The longest-established lap records stand at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway and Perth's Barbagallo Raceway which were set in 1999 and 2004 respectively by Jason Bright, who resumes his career in the Mega Fuels Falcon at Prodrive Racing Australia this season.

Bright is one of the most experienced drivers in the category and the former Bathurst 1000 winner also believes that the new Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre will increase both qualifying and race pace.

Team Vortex’s Craig Lowndes owns the most lap records with three (Albert Park 2011, Queensland Raceway and Pukekohe 2015), while Red Bull Holden Racing’s Whincup has five qualifying records to his name (Barbagallo 2011, Albert Park 2012, Sandown 2014 and Townsville and Bathurst 2016).

While the teams enjoyed a full day of testing at Sydney Motorsport Park last Tuesday, they will only have two 40-minute sessions in Adelaide on Friday before qualifying.

The new Dunlop Sport Maxx is approximately 15mm wider than its predecessor and is a very different shape due to a flatter tread surface from sidewall to sidewall which will result in more rubber on the road.

It also has a stiffer construction and weighs about 500 grams heavier than the previous tyre.

Each car in the Supercars championship will be allocated 432 tyres for the season which means a total of 11,232 tyres for the year, excluding any wildcard entries.

Whincup was involved in a full day of testing the new tyre at Queensland Raceway back in May, but a second test with Mark Winterbottom was cancelled after just two laps due to rain at Phillip Island in August.

All development from that point was done in-house at Calspan Engineering in Buffalo, New York.

The tyre was extensively laboratory tested in the US and all teams were provided with more than 100gb of data.

Dunlop’s first shipment of 1500 tyres arrived from Nagoya in Japan on January 1 while a second shipment of 1200 arrived on January 31.

WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY

KEVIN FITZSIMONS - SUPERCARS OPERATIONS MANAGER, DUNLOP

“I am sure there will be plenty of Supercar track records that will come under threat this season given the right conditions,” said Fitzsimmons.

“They could be under threat as soon as this weekend at the opening round in Adelaide.

“The feedback from the test at Sydney Motorsport Park last week was very encouraging and everything indicates we will have a faster and more durable tyre.

“There has definitely been a leap forward and that can only mean faster and better racing for the fans.

“At the same time we have the opportunity to gather more and more data which can utilised by the Dunlop engineers to help us produce better road tyres for everyday consumers - at the end of the day, that is why we go racing.”

JASON BRIGHT - SUPERCAR DRIVER

“It was quite amazing to see the speed from the new Dunlop straight out of the box on such a hot day at Sydney Motorsport Park,” said Bright.

“There is no doubt that if the conditions are right then track records will be under threat at a lot of circuits this year.

“I would be pretty happy to keep my name in the record books at Barbagallo and Darwin and maybe add a couple more along the way.

“Everything points towards more speed and durability and that can only be good for everyone.”

LOU MANDANICI - VICE PRESIDENT CONSUMER PBU & WHOLESALE ANZ

“Dunlop has proudly been the control tyre for the Supercar category since 2002, including the Dunlop Development Series now known as the Dunlop Super2 Series,” said Mandanici.

“The unveiling of our new Dunlop control tyre commencing round one of the 2017 Supercar championship at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide will showcase Dunlop's leading edge technology and heritage in motorsport.

“We can't wait to see the new Dunlop tyre perform on track under racing conditions and deliver improved racing for the drivers and the spectators.”

VITAL FACTS AND FIGURES - CLIPSAL 500

• Tyre Allocation: 32 soft tyres for the event

• Eight for practice only; 24 for qualifying and races

• Race format: 2 x 250km (Sat and Sun)

• Qualifying Record: Fabian Coulthard 1:20.0168

• Race Lap Record: Jamie Whincup 1:21.0507

• Most Pole Positions: Jamie Whincup (9)

• Most Race Wins: Jamie Whincup (10)

• Track Distance: 3.22km

• Direction: Clockwise

• Turns: 14

• Average Speed: 146km

• Top Speed: 251km

• Best Vantage point: Outside of turn 12 sees cars on the limit as they prepare for entry to the final sweeping right hander.

TV Times (Adelaide Local times - 30 minutes earlier in ADST)

• Thursday - 10am-6.45pm (Fox Sports 5)

• Friday - 8.30am-5pm (Fox Sports 5); 11.30am-4.30pm (Ten)

• Saturday - 8am-5.45pm (Fox sports 5); 11.30am-6pm (Ten)

• Sunday - 8.45am-5.45pm (Fox Sports 5); 11.30pm-6pm (Ten)

Track Times (Adelaide local time - 30 Minutes earlier in ADST)

SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP

Friday

9.40am - Practice 1 (40 min)

11.30am - Practice 2 (40 min)

2.30pm - Qualifying (20 mins)

Saturday

10.05am - Practice 3 (20 mins)

Noon - Top 10 Shootout

3.20pm - Race 1 (78 laps)

Sunday

9.20am - Qualifying (20 mins)

12.10pm - Top Ten Shootout

3.20pm - Race 2 (78 laps)

DUNLOP SUPER2

Thursday

9.15am - Practice 1 (40 mins)

2.15pm - Practice 2 (30 mins)

Friday

1.20pm - Qualifying (20 mins)

4.25pm - Race 1 (19 Laps)

Saturday

11.15am - Race 2 (19 Laps)

Sunday

11.25am - Race 3 (19 Laps)

CURRENT SUPERCAR TRACK RECORDS

ADELAIDE

Qualifying Lap Record: 1.20.0168s (Fabian Coulthard, Ford Falcon FGX 2016)

Race Lap Record: 1.21.0507s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VE 2012)

ALBERT PARK

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m55.0805s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VF 2012)

Race Lap Record: 1m55.9682s (Craig Lowndes, Holden Commodore VEII 2011)

SYMMONS PLAINS

Qualifying Lap Record: 51.0177s (Will Davison, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

Race Lap Record: 51.4713s (Rick Kelly, Holden Commodore VE 2009)

PHILLIP ISLAND

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m30.4880s (Scott McLaughlin, Volvo S60 2016)

Race Lap Record: 1m32.0246s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VF 2013)

BARBAGALLO RACEWAY

Qualifying Lap Record: 54.9898s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VE 2011)

Race Lap Record: 55.9440s (Jason Bright, Holden Commodore VY 2004)

WINTON RACEWAY

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m18.7603s (Chaz Mostert, Ford Falcon FGX 2016)

Race Lap Record: 1m19.7092s (Fabian Coulthard, Ford Falcon FGX 2016)

HIDDEN VALLEY - DARWIN

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m06.0259s (Craig Lowndes, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

Race Lap Record: 1m09.0149s (Jason Bright, Ford Falcon AU 1999)

TOWNSVILLE

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m12.1443s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

Race Lap Record: 1m13.3018s (Shane van Gisbergen, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m09.0593s (Will Davison, Ford Falcon FG 2013)

Race Lap Record: 1m10.0820s (Craig Lowndes, Holden Commodore VF 2015)

SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK

Qualifying Lap Record: 1:28.0583 (Chaz Mostert, Ford Falcon FGX 2015)

Race Lap Record: 1:30.9123 (Garth Tander, Holden Commodore VE2 2012)

SANDOWN RACEWAY

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m08.5730s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VF 2014)

Race Lap Record: 1m09.3416s (Chaz Mostert, Ford Falcon FGX 2015)

BATHURST, MT PANORAMA

Qualifying Lap Record: 2m05.0481s (Jamie Whincup, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

Race Lap Record: 2m06.2769s (David Reynolds, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

SURFERS PARADISE, GOLD COAST

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m10.0480s (David Reynolds, Ford Falcon FG 2013)

Race Lap Record: 1m10.0851s (Will Davison, Ford Falcon FG 2011)

PUKEKOHE, NEW ZEALAND

Qualifying Lap Record: 1m02.2186s (Shane van Gisbergen, Holden Commodore VF 2016)

Race Lap Record: 1m03.2524s (Craig Lowndes, Holden Commodore VF 2015)

NEWCASTLE

New Circuit

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