Dunlop's SP Sport MAXX 'Sprint' Tyre Spices Up Winton

Dunlop’s new ’Sprint ’ V8 tyre made for an action -packed weekend of racing at Winton with Ford driver Craig Lowndes victorious in both races and Team Intraracing driver Marcus Marshall breaking the 7-year-old lap record.

Dunlop’s V8 Operations Manager, Kevin Fitzsimons, said that drivers acclimatised well to the new tyre.

“Dunlop’s new SP Sport Maxx ’Sprint’ tyre performed exactly as expected under race conditions, replicating our testing data,” Fitzsimons said.

“Each team had a different strategy on using the ’Sprint’ tyres with Triple 8 Racing using two different lines of attack for their two cars on Saturday and they still managed to finish in front showing that there isn’t one right way they should be used.

“We even saw some teams wait until Sunday’s race before utilising their ’Sprint’ set of tyres, citing there could be a big advantage to gain track position in the longer race when most other teams were on the ‘Control’ tyre.

“This is exactly what we saw from Paul Dumbrell, who flew past his competitors to take the lead in the first few laps before Lowndes, Winterbottom and Tander managed to round him up later in the race.

“The feedback we have had from the drivers and the fans has been positive, they love the new dual compound concept as it really mixes things up and makes for highly entertaining racing,” he said.

Tim Edwards, FPR Team Principal said: “Once everybody got their head around it, the new soft tyre definitely spiced up the show and that was the intention.”

Steve Richards, FPR Team Driver said: “The soft tyres were great. They served exactly the purpose they were designed for: really good speed for 10 laps and then progressively falling away after that.

“They did the job perfectly and they’re great fun to drive on- a great addition to racing I reckon.”

The next round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series will be held at Symmons Plains Raceway, Tasmania, from May 29-31 and will again see Dunlop provide both the SP Sport Maxx ‘Control’ and ’Sprint’