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BTCC to introduce new 'option' tyres for 2013 season

The British Touring Car Championship will introduce a soft tyre, to be used once per race weekend in 2013

At all circuits except Thruxton, which puts a greater strain on the rubber, one set of a soft-compound Dunlop tyre will be available to each NGTC entry.

The faster tyre will not be available in qualifying, but teams will be able to choose which of the three races in which it is used at each meeting.

Other teams and drivers won't know in which race their competitors have chosen to use the soft tyres until the cars go to the grid. Tyres will have a special marking to make them easily identifiable.

BTCC series director Alan Gow said: "This set of softer compound tyres is part of each driver's normal 16 per-meeting Dunlop tyre allocation, so there is no increase in the amount of tyres used.

"The real twist is that prior to qualifying they must nominate the actual race in which they are going to use them the next day - they won't be able to use them to merely make up for a poor qualifying or race performance.

"It's sure to provide some fascinating strategies, as each team won't know what their opposition are doing until they head out onto the grid."

Gow added that the teams, which met last week, had agreed to the idea.

"All our teams enthusiastically supported this new regulation at a recent meeting and I'm sure the spectators will love this new element," he added.

If the race in which the driver has elected to use the soft set is wet, they must use them in the next available dry race on that same day. There is no carry-over or accumulation to the next race meeting if not used.

Also from 2013, cars may only use a full matching set of tyres when on track and will not be permitted to run a mixture of slick and wet tyres.

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