Sandown SuperSprint

The Sandown SuperSprint was a Supercars motor racing event held at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The event was a semi-regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Australian Touring Car Championship, Shell Championship Series and V8 Supercars Championship between 1965 and 2011, and returned to the championship in 2021.[1]

Victoria (state) Sandown SuperSprint
Race Information
Venue Sandown Raceway
Number of times held 37
First held 1965
Last held 2022
Race Format
Race 1
Laps 36
Distance 110 km
Race 2
Laps 36
Distance 110 km
Race 3
Laps 36
Distance 110 km
Last Event (2022)
Overall Winner
New Zealand Shane van GisbergenTriple Eight Race Engineering
Race Winners
Australia Will DavisonDick Johnson Racing
New Zealand Shane van GisbergenTriple Eight Race Engineering
New Zealand Shane van GisbergenTriple Eight Race Engineering

Format

The event was staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Three thirty-minute practice sessions were held, two on Friday, one of them was a co-driver session, and one on Saturday. Saturday featured a three-part qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 110 kilometre race. Two separated ten-minute qualifying sessions were held on Sunday, which decided the grid for the following 110 km races.[2]

History

Opened in 1962, Sandown Raceway has traditionally been known as the host of endurance races, the first of which was held in 1964, an event which later evolved into the Sandown 500 event. As well as this, Sandown has a long history of hosting sprint rounds of the championship with the circuit hosting the most rounds in championship history.[3] Sandown held its first championship sprint round in 1965, as the only event of the 1965 Australian Touring Car Championship. The race was won by Norm Beechey, who won by over a lap despite starting from towards the back of the grid after mechanical problems in qualifying.[4] Sandown would not hold another championship event until 1970, when the series had expanded to seven rounds.[3]

Since then, in various forms and with the exception of 1975, 1990 and 1993, Sandown has been included in every running of the Australian Touring Car Championship, which later became known as V8 Supercars. From 1972 to 1974, Allan Moffat won three consecutive event wins at the circuit, while in 1976 and 1977 Sandown hosted both a sprint round and the Sandown 500 as part of each championship. In 1978, five-time champion Ian Geoghegan won his last championship round in a Bob Jane Racing entry. Throughout the 1980s, Dick Johnson tied Moffat as the most successful driver at the event with four wins. Dick Jonhson's eponymous team won three further events in 1992, 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Steven Ellery won his only career race at the event.[5] The 2001 and 2002 events were the final events of each championship, however in both years the championship had already been decided by the time of the Sandown round. In 2001, Todd Kelly scored his first championship round win. In 2002, Marcos Ambrose gave the Ford AU Falcon a round win in the last event of its largely unsuccessful era as the pre-eminent Ford model.

Meanwhile, in 1999 the annual 500 kilometre endurance race left Sandown and moved to Queensland Raceway, with the endurance events also joining the championship calendar for the first time since 1977. With the 500 kilometre endurance race and the Bathurst 1000 now regular fixtures of the championship, when the Sandown 500 returned to the calendar from 2003 to 2007, the sprint round became obsolete. The sprint round then returned from 2008 to 2011 in the period in which the Phillip Island 500 replaced Sandown's endurance race. In the final sprint round to date in 2011, Will Davison won the round despite only finishing fourth and third in a rain-affected weekend.[6]

In 2020, the 500 was again scheduled to be moved, this time to The Bend Motorsport Park, which itself was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, Sandown was initially scheduled to host its first sprint event since 2011, but the event was also later cancelled altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] Sandown was initially given reserve status on the 2021 calendar, and was then scheduled to replace the Melbourne 400 after the postponement of the 2021 Australian Grand Prix.[8][1] Shane van Gisbergen won all three races, including the first from 17th on the grid, only two weeks after breaking his collarbone in a mountain biking accident.[9]

Winners

Year Driver[3] Team Car Report
1965 Australia Norm Beechey Neptune Racing Team Ford Mustang Report
1966

1969
not held
1970 Australia Norm Beechey Beechey Shell Racing Team Holden Monaro HT GTS350
1971 Australia Bob Jane Bob Jane Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1
1972 Canada Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Racing Ford Boss 302 Mustang
1973 Canada Allan Moffat Ford Works Team Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III
1974 Canada Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Racing Ford XA Falcon GT Hardtop
1975 event cancelled
19761 Australia Colin Bond Holden Dealer Team Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34
19771 Canada Allan Moffat Allan Moffat Racing Ford XB Falcon GT
1978 Australia Ian Geoghegan Bob Jane Racing Holden LX Torana A9X
1979 Australia Bob Morris Ron Hodgson Motors Holden LX Torana SS 5000 A9X
1980 Australia Kevin Bartlett Nine Network Racing Team Chevrolet Camaro Z28
1981 Australia Dick Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford XD Falcon
1982 Australia Dick Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford XD Falcon
1983 Australia Allan Grice Roadways Racing Holden VH Commodore SS
1984 Australia Peter Brock Holden Dealer Team Holden VH Commodore SS
1985 Australia Peter Brock Holden Dealer Team Holden VK Commodore
1986 Australia George Fury Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline DR30 RS
1987 Australia Glenn Seton Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline DR30 RS
1988 Australia Dick Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500
1989 Australia Dick Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500
1990 not held
1991 New Zealand Jim Richards Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R
1992 Australia John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500
1993 not held
1994 Australia Mark Skaife Gibson Motorsport Holden VP Commodore Report
1995 Australia Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden VR Commodore Report
1996 Australia Craig Lowndes Holden Racing Team Holden VR Commodore
1997 Australia Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EL Falcon
1998 Australia Craig Lowndes Holden Racing Team Holden VS Commodore
1999 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VT Commodore Report
2000 New Zealand Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford AU Falcon
2001 Australia Todd Kelly Kmart Racing Team Holden VX Commodore Report
2002 Australia Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford AU Falcon
2003

2007
not held 2
2008 Australia Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BF Falcon Report
2009 Australia Will Davison Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore Report
2010 Australia James Courtney Dick Johnson Racing Ford FG Falcon
2011 Australia Will Davison Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon
2012

2019
not held 2
2020 not held due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden ZB Commodore
2022 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden ZB Commodore
Notes
  • ^1 – In 1976 and 1977, Sandown Raceway also hosted a second championship round, the Hang Ten 400.
  • ^2 – From 2003 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2019, Sandown Raceway hosted the Sandown 500 as a championship round.

Multiple winners

By driver

Wins Driver Years
4 Canada Allan Moffat 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977
Australia Dick Johnson 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989
2 Australia Norm Beechey 1965, 1970
Australia Peter Brock 1984, 1985
Australia Glenn Seton 1987, 1997
Australia Craig Lowndes 1996, 1998
Australia Mark Skaife 1994, 1999
Australia Will Davison 2009, 2011
New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen 2021, 2022

By team

Wins Team
7 Dick Johnson Racing
4 Gibson Motorsport
Holden Racing Team
3 Allan Moffat Racing
Holden Dealer Team
Triple Eight Race Engineering
2 Bob Jane Racing

By manufacturer

Wins Manufacturer
16 Ford
Holden
3 Nissan
2 Chevrolet

Event names and sponsors

See also

References

  1. Coch, Mat (12 January 2021). "Supercars confirms Grand Prix alternative". Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint schedule set Supercars 8 August 2022
  3. 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.
  4. Fogarty, Mark (15 April 2016). "The best of the V8 Supercars 500". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  5. Noonan, Aaron (17 March 2018). "Saturday Sleuthing: Steve Ellery". Supercars. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  6. "Jack Daniel's Racing happy with Sandown first race - Supercars News". Motorsport.com. 19 November 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  7. van Leeuwen, Andrew (30 August 2020). "Official: 2020 Supercars season will end at Bathurst". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  8. Chapman, Simon (2 December 2020). "Supercars puts Sandown on standby". Speedcafe. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  9. Pavey, James (21 March 2021). "Van Gisbergen beats Kostecki to seal Sandown sweep". Supercars. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.