By Thomas Miles
Date posted: April 7, 2023
The Melbourne SuperSprint provided the first glimpse of how the SuperSoft and new Wet tyres would cope in the Gen3 era and Dunlop is happy with the result.
Although the crammed Australian Grand Prix schedule provided little track time, the mixed Melbourne weather ensured slick and grooved rubber was bolted on the Gen3 cars for the first time.
Whilst the Soft, SuperSoft and Hard compound Dunlop control tyres have been retained from last year, a new softer Wet tyre has been introduced for 2023.
After the heavens opened on Saturday morning, the first of back-to-back qualifying sessions was the maiden chance Supercars teams bolted on wet rubber.
Meanwhile in the dry, the slick tyres held up far better than in previous appearances with the SuperSoft showing strong speed throughout the races. 
The Dunlop SuperSoft tyre. Image: mark Horsburgh
“We are quite happy with the way things are,” Fitzsimmons told AUTO ACTION prior to race 6 of the championship at Albert Park.
“The wear is really good. As weird as it sounds, it is actually wearing the tyre down, which then helps it shed heat because the thickness of the tread helps it hold the heat. 
“Last year we did not have a lot of wear as much and that held the heat in which led to blistering, so I am pretty comfortable with the way things are with the SuperSoft at the minute.
“It is a work in process and we are learning as we go, but it is ticking the boxes I want to tick and we will make some decisions as to what we want to do in the future.”
The field goes racing for the first time on SuperSoft rubber in the Gen3 era. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Drivers admitted they were going into the “unknown” but the SuperSoft rubber proved to be extremely durable, much to their surprise.
Many cars including winner Shane van Gisbergen were able to stay out until as late as the penultimate lap, while drivers reset fastest laps deep into their stint.
It was a far cry from the scenes of 12 months ago when tyre dramas were a common occurrence with Dick Johnson Racing suffering an infamous double blow out.
This was a result of the more aero dependent Gen2 cars pushing the limits on a newly resurfaced and resigned track that has similar degradation rate to the notorious Phillip Island.
Brad Jones Racing staff unload Hard and Wet tyres from the Dunlop base at Melbourne. Image: Thomas Miles
“We were not sure how the tyre was going to react with this car, but honestly I was not expecting it to last the full distance,” he said.
“I was expecting there to be a lot more deg than there was, so I was pleasantly surprised cars were still punching out good numbers. 
“The Gen2 cars carried a lot more downforce and significantly more corning speed and load and there is 80-odd kilos difference in weight, but the teams seem to be targeting the same sort of cold and hot pressure.
“The tyre reacts a little bit differently and takes a fraction longer to come on, which leads to the cars moving around a bit more in the first few laps until the temperatures come up and adds to the excitement.”
Thomas Randle driving his Tickford Mustang on a wet Albert Park track. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Although the Race 5 qualifying eventually topped by Brodie Kostecki began on a damp track, seeing teams bolt on the wet runner, Fitzsimmons said it was hard to get a perfect reading on how the tyres fared given cars were still operating with dry setups.
“Running in the wet was a good fact-finding mission for everybody, but it was probably the worst case scenario you could have for the first time,” he said.
“It was high load, high speed in a very short qualifying session where everybody had a dry setup because of the back to back sessions.
“Unfortunately plenty of rears blistered, but if you had a list of things there was a cross next to every one of them.
“If we had torrential rain at a Winton or Sandown, the tyre would be fantastic, but there was not enough time to change cars.
“We are all learning and it is part of the Gen3 progress.”
The Melbourne SuperSprint would have been a good fact-finding mission ahead of the third Supercars round in Perth where the SuperSoft tyre will be in use again on April 28-30.
For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
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