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Van Gisbergen: No radical difference with new Dunlops

Reigning Supercars Champion Shane van Gisbergen says he was surprised at the similarities in feeling between the old Dunlop control tyre and the new-spec rubber.

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Edge Photographics

Dunlop tyres
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore
Shane van Gisbergen, Riley Motorsports
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

The Kiwi was part of an all-in Supercars test at Sydney Motorsport Park on Tuesday, which gave teams and drivers there first proper taste of the new-construction Dunlop ‘soft’ and ‘super soft’ tyres – which effectively replace the hards and softs from previous seasons.

The test saw Rick Kelly clock the fastest ever Supercars lap at SMP with a 1m28.775s, while van Gisbergen ended the day with a best of 1m29.048s after having his early running interrupted by a steering vibration in his brand new Triple Eight Commodore.

But despite the quick lap times, van Gisbergen said there was no radical difference between the old rubber and the new in terms of car behaviour.

“It was weird – the way they were talked about and the way they looked, I thought the difference would be quite radical,” he told Motorsport.com.

“But when I drove out, if the team had said they’d just made a shock change or something I would have believed them.

“The car, surprisingly, wasn’t that different. The soft tyre was the same as the old hard tyre, really, and the super soft tyre was a little bit more grippy.

“But that’s just on that one track, it might be different on others.”

With large expectations in terms of front-end grip, van Gisbergen added that it was a more of a subtle shift in the way the tyre felt under load.

“It’s just different the way it reacts when you load it. But the braking and the turning once you’re in the corner is still the same feeling,” he said.

“It wasn’t radical like everyone was taking about, so whether it shakes up the order or not we’re yet to see. It was a little surprising.”

The new-construction soft tyre will be used in anger for the first time when the season kicks off on the streets of Adelaide next week.

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