Sydney Motorsport Park SuperSprint

New South Wales Sydney Motorsport Park SuperSprint
Race Information
Venue Sydney Motorsport Park
Number of times held 18
First held 1992
Race Format
Race 1
Laps 16
Distance 60 km
Race 2
Laps 16
Distance 60 km
Race 3
Laps 52
Distance 200 km
Last Event (2015)
Overall Winner
Australia Chaz Mostert Prodrive Racing Australia
Race Winners
Australia Chaz Mostert Prodrive Racing Australia
Australia Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering
Australia Chaz Mostert Prodrive Racing Australia

The Sydney Motorsport Park SuperSprint (formally known as the Red Rooster Sydney SuperSprint) is an annual motor racing event for V8 Supercars, held at Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek, New South Wales. The event has been a regular part of the V8 Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Australian Touring Car Championship and Shell Championship Series—since 1992. The event was formerly named under the Eastern Creek Raceway banner, until the track was renamed to Sydney Motorsport Park in 2012.

Format

The event is staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two one-hour practice sessions are held on Friday while a fifteen-minute practice session is held on each of Saturday and Sunday. Saturday features a pair of ten-minute qualifying sessions which decide the grid positions for the following two 60 kilometre sprint races. A single twenty-minute qualifying session is held on Sunday to decide the grid for the following 200 km race.[1]

History

Opened in 1990, Sydney Motorsport Park, then known as Eastern Creek Raceway, hosted its first major touring car event in the same year; a 500 kilometre endurance race known as the 1990 Nissan Sydney 500. Although it was a round of the Australian Endurance Championship and Australian Manufacturers' Championship rather than the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), it was open to Group 3A Touring Car regulations, and therefore featured several cars running in that year's ATCC. It was won by Larry Perkins and Tomas Mezera in a Holden VL Commodore. From 1992 to 1995, the circuit also hosted the non-championship Winfield Triple Challenge, a pre-season event consisting of the trio of touring cars, superbikes and drag racing.

The circuit hosted its first official ATCC event in 1992. John Bowe won both races of the event, holding on in a close battle with Tony Longhurst in the first race. In 1994, Peter Brock scored the first race and round victories in the ATCC for the Holden Racing Team. The 1996 event was held on the shorter 'North' version of the circuit, enabling the third race of the event to be held at night. Craig Lowndes won the event, becoming the first driver to win an ATCC round on debut since David McKay won the very first ATCC round in 1960. Russell Ingall and Steven Richards also made their ATCC debuts on that weekend.[2]

The event was dropped from the calendar in 1998 but returned in 1999, a year which began a four-event winning streak for Mark Skaife and the Holden Racing Team at the event. Marcos Ambrose ended the streak by winning in 2003. In 2004, Rick Kelly broke the record for the lowest starting position from which an ATCC or V8 Supercar round had been won, winning from seventeenth on the grid. Lowndes and Garth Tander, who completed the podium, started sixteenth and fifteenth respectively in a very wet race. The circuit hosted two V8 Supercar rounds in 2003 and 2004, the other being the Grand Finale, the final round of the series. In 2005, Lowndes took the first V8 Supercar race and round win for Triple Eight Race Engineering.[2]

In winning the event in 2007, Skaife broke Peter Brock's long-standing record of 37 round victories in the ATCC and V8 Supercars, taking his 38th win. His teammate Todd Kelly made it a one-two finish for the Holden Racing Team, while Jamie Whincup was disqualified from the third race for using illegal rear brake rotors. In 2008, Will Davison took his first V8 Supercar round win and the first for Dick Johnson Racing since 2001. Eastern Creek was dropped from the calendar in 2009, with the Sydney event moving to the Homebush Street Circuit, known as the Sydney 500.[2]

After hosting the series' pre-season test day in 2011, Eastern Creek, now known as Sydney Motorsport Park, returned to the V8 Supercar calendar in 2012 as a late addition.[3] As part of the renovation and name change, the layout was slightly changed, with the kink at turn 6 removed. The circuit was again removed from the calendar in 2013 before returning in 2014. The first two races of the 2014 event were held in very wet conditions, with Shane Van Gisbergen taking victory in both races.[4] Chaz Mostert won the 2015 event, winning two of the three races including another rain-affected race on the Sunday.

Winners

Shane Van Gisbergen leading in wet conditions during the 2014 event.
Year Driver[2] Team Car Report
1992 Australia John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500
1993 Australia Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EB Falcon
1994 Australia Peter Brock Holden Racing Team Holden VP Commodore
1995 Australia Mark Skaife Gibson Motorsport Holden VR Commodore
19961 Australia Craig Lowndes Holden Racing Team Holden VR Commodore
1997 Australia Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EL Falcon
1998 not held
1999 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VT Commodore
2000 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VT Commodore
2001 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore Report
2002 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore
20032 Australia Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford BA Falcon
20042 Australia Rick Kelly Kmart Racing Team Holden VY Commodore
2005 Australia Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BA Falcon
2006 not held
2007 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore Report
2008 Australia Will Davison Dick Johnson Racing Ford BF Falcon Report
2009

2011
not held
2012 Australia Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VE Commodore Report
2013 not held
2014 New Zealand Shane Van Gisbergen Tekno Autosports Holden VF Commodore Report
2015 Australia Chaz Mostert Prodrive Racing Australia Ford FG X Falcon Report
Notes

Multiple winners

By driver

Wins Driver Years
6 Australia Mark Skaife 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007
3 Australia Craig Lowndes 1996, 2005, 2012
2 Australia Glenn Seton 1993, 1997

By team

Wins Team
7 Holden Racing Team
2 Glenn Seton Racing
Dick Johnson Racing
Triple Eight Race Engineering

By manufacturer

Wins Manufacturer
11 Holden
7 Ford

Event sponsors

See also

References

  1. "V8 Supercars Operations Manual 2015 - Divison A - Administration Rules" (PDF). V8 Supercars. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Greenhalgh, David; Howard, Graham; Wilson, Stewart (2011). The official history: Australian Touring Car Championship - 50 Years. St Leonards, New South Wales: Chevron Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-9805912-2-4.
  3. Bartholomaeus, Stefan (22 April 2012). "Eastern Creek added to 2012 V8 Supercars calendar". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. Howard, Tom (23 August 2014). "Van Gisbergen does the double at SMP". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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