With the Caracal Race, Hutchinson are clearly borrowing from the road segment, taking inspiration from tires like the Hutchinson Blackbird Race. You can see it in the tread design: a completely slick centre strip, complemented by small square side knobs that grow in height towards the shoulders to generate cornering grip.
The “Swift Easy Casing” construction uses a flexible fabric carcass designed to deform easily, aiming to improve comfort and keep rolling resistance low. For the rubber compound, Hutchinson doesn’t go with Mach 10, but instead uses its Mach Tread 3.0 compound from the road range. It’s designed to minimise friction and support high speeds. These technologies from Hutchinson’s road portfolio are intended to make the Caracal Race one of the fastest gravel tires around. Whether that translates into real-world performance is something our test will reveal.
How Racey is the Caracal Race? – The Hutchinson Caracal Race in the 2026 Gravel Tire Group Test
The Hutchinson Caracal Race proves to be a true pacemaker in our test. On asphalt it accelerates strongly, ranking among the most efficient tires in the field, around 2 W better than average and on a level with the Specialized Pathfinder, despite its higher 564 g weight. The main reason is its mirror-smooth tread, which makes it behave almost like a fast all-road tire. When it comes to pure road speed, the Caracal Race even sits close to the test winner, the Continental Terra Competition. However, there is a noticeable downside: the sudden drop you feel as you lean over into turns. The transition from slick centre section to side knobs is clearly perceptible, resulting in an unfamiliar, hard-to-control turn-in. Handling feels unintuitive and requires a long adjustment period before you really get along with the Hutchinson.
On loose gravel, the Caracal Race starts to lose its advantage. The same abrupt transition remains, while the slick tread offers little support through longer corners, causing the tire to drift and “float” outward. The gravel beneath feels like marbles, gently pushing rider and bike towards the outside of the turn. When climbing, the rear wheel tends to spin under high load, and as soon as things get damp, the tire is quickly overwhelmed. Traction in tricky conditions? Not really a part of its repertoire. The Caracal Race is therefore clearly a specialist for hardpack and tarmac.
Puncture protection also reveals weaknesses. In the tread puncture test, the Hutchinson finishes at the very bottom of the field. Routes with sharp stones or any detours through thorny sections should be avoided whenever possible. While a tubeless setup can mitigate some of these issues, it still isn’t a tire you would confidently take on multi-day adventures.
AGILITY
- cumbersome
- balanced
- playful
GRIP
- low
- high
COMPLIANCE
- low
- high
ROLLING RESISTANCE
- slow
- fast
PINCH-FLAT PROTECTION
- low
- high
PUNCH RESISTANCE
- low
- high
Conclusion on the Hutchinson Caracal Race
The Hutchinson Caracal Race has firmly settled into its niche: the race scene in dry conditions, on consistent hardpack terrain. This is where its minimalist tread really comes into its own, unlocking all of its potential efficiency. Anything beyond hardpack, however, quickly pushes the tire to its limits – and that sudden drop into corners can sometimes catch the rider out as well.
Tops
- good ride quality
- fast on asphalt
Flops
- lowest puncture resistance
- very abrupt cornering behaviour
Made in France | Size (ETRO) 45-622 | Width in mm¹ 46,4
Height in mm¹ 42,13 | Weight 564.2 g | Price € 59.99
¹measured dimensions at 1.75 – 3.0 Bar, depending on tire width
More information at cycling.hutchinson.com.
The Testfield
This tire was tested as part of the Gravel Tire Comparison Test 2026 – an overview of this comparison test as well as all other tested gravel tires can be found in the comprehensive comprehensive Gravel Tire Comparison Test 2026. For the top models in the racing category, you should take a look at the Race Gravel Tire Comparison Test 2026.
Challenge: Getaway XP | Gravine XP
Continental: Dubnital | Terra Adventure | Terra Competition | Terra Hardpack | Terra Speed
Goodyear: Connector Inter | Connector Speed
Hutchinson: Caracal Race
MAXXIS: Rambler | Reaver
Michelin: Power Adventure | Power Gravel
Pirelli: Cinturato Gravel H | Cinturato Gravel M | Cinturato Gravel S
Rene Herse: Corkscrew Climb TC Semi-Slick
Schwalbe: G-One RS Pro | G-One RX Pro | G-One R Pro | Thunder Burt | G One Overland Pro
Specialized: Pathfinder TLR | Tracer TLR | Terra TLR
Vittoria: Terreno Pro T30 | Terreno Pro T50 | Terreno Pro T60
WTB: Vulpine S | Vulpine | Resolute
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Words: Julian Schwede Photos: Jan Fock
About the Author
Julian Schwede
Freelance Editor
Juli is used to dealing with big rigs. Besides working on his bike, he also tinkered and worked on buses after completing his training as a vehicle mechatronics engineer. Since the development of large-scale electric motors was too slow for him, he went on to study technical business administration while building carbon fibre tables on the side. Though his DJ bike is welded from thick aluminium tubes, his full-susser is made of carbon and it's already taken him to the top of numerous summits. Apart from biking, he likes climbing via ferratas or vertically on the wall. Nowadays, his personal bike gets ridden less as he tests the bikes that get sent to us, pushing them to their limits to see what they're capable of. In addition to bike reviews, Juli also takes care of the daily news and thinks of himself as the Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent.
