Dunlop have confirmed to TouringCars.net that new soft and wet compound tyres are being evaluated ahead of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship season.
The championship tyre supplier also confirmed it will analyse its current prime compound through 2019 with a view to updating it for 2020.
It is hoped the new soft tyre will bring increased grip and, crucially, durability, allowing drivers to push harder for longer periods of each race and largely removing the need to nurse them.
The compound will be tested during the annual in-season test at Snetterton in July, and will be conducted by four cars using a mixture of front and rear-wheel drivetrains to collect a broad pool of data.
Currently, Dunlop hand-crafts wet tyres from slicks, but is looking to introduce a new mould for 2019 that will remove that element of the process.
Two designs will be evaluated, with Dunlop looking to establish whether either gives any variance in performance from the current model.
The switch would allow them to utilise the latest production techniques.
These will be tested at Rockingham Motor Speedway during October, again with the same number and variance in cars.