Dunlop introduces new medium-compound BTCC tyre mid-season

The series' sole tyre supplier is replacing the previous control rubber from Oulton onwards with a slightly harder compound.

Dunlop relocated its production facilities from the UK to France and Germany last year, with the new programme now introducing a slightly different tyre.

"Even though we are the sole supplier, we are always looking to introduce new developments that can benefit the teams and the racing," said Dunlop's Mickey Butler.

"The new tyre uses new materials that have been proven in our successful GT endurance racing programmes and we decided that applying these new technologies would benefit the BTCC tyre."

The new medium tyre was tested at Snetterton last year and before the start of the current campaign.

The soft tyre, which came under scrutiny following a troublesome Donington Park round, where it suffered severe degradation, is unchanged.

"We did see a bigger than expected difference between the two tyres at the recent Donington race, but this was due to colder than expected track conditions," Butler added.

"During the summer months, we expect the performance difference between the current soft and the new medium to be similar to 2014.

"We will consider applying the same material changes to the 2016 soft tyre if we find it is necessary after analysing the results from this season."

It is understood the championship has no immediate plans to ask Dunlop to alter or remove the soft tyre.