Phillip Island SuperSprint

Victoria (Australia) Phillip Island SuperSprint
Race Information
Venue Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Number of times held 18
First held 1990
Race Format
Race 1
Laps 27
Distance 120 km
Race 2
Laps 45
Distance 200 km
Last Event (2016)
Overall Winner
New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport
Race Winners
New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport
New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport

The Phillip Island SuperSprint (formally known as the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island, Victoria. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Australian Touring Car Championship, Shell Championship Series and V8 Supercars Championship—since 1990.

The circuit has also previously hosted championship rounds as an endurance race, the Phillip Island 500, in 1976 and 1977 and from 2008 to 2011, and as the Grand Finale from 2005 to 2007.

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 Saturday. Saturday features a fifteen-minute qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre race. A single twenty-minute qualifying session is held on Sunday to decide the grid for the following 200 km race.[1][2]

History

While the Phillip Island 500 was a part of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) in 1976 and 1977, the circuit did not host a sprint round of the championship until 1990. Dick Johnson won the first event, his final round win in the ATCC. After being absent from the calendar in 1991 and 1992, Phillip Island returned to the ATCC in 1993 and Glenn Seton went on to dominate the event, winning five of the six races held across 1993, 1994 and 1995.[3]

Despite the early success of Johnson and Seton for Ford, Holden went on to win all seven events from 1996 to 2002.[3] Jason Bargwanna suffered a major crash during the 2002 event when Greg Murphy squeezed him off the track, sending Bargwanna's car into the tyre wall and a series of rolls before it came to rest in the middle of the track.[4] Later in the event, Max Wilson's car suffered heavy damage when he was hit by Craig Lowndes after Wilson had been spun by Marcos Ambrose. Meanwhile, Paul Romano was given a 150-point penalty for deliberately colliding with Rodney Forbes. The penalty saw Romano finish the season with negative points.[3]

Phillip Island did not feature on the Supercars calendar in 2004 while from 2005 to 2011 the circuit hosted the Grand Finale and the revival of the Phillip Island 500.[3] The one exception to this was 2009, in which Phillip Island hosted both a sprint event as well as the endurance event, due to the late cancellation of that year's Desert 400 in Bahrain. The Sandown 500 returned to the calendar in 2012, in place of the Phillip Island 500, and Phillip Island reverted to hosting a sprint round of the championship.[5] The 2013 event saw Alexandre Prémat's car leave the track at high speed and hit the driver's door of James Courtney's car. Courtney fractured his tibia in the incident and was forced to miss the next, and final, round of the season at the Sydney 500. In 2014, Jamie Whincup secured a record sixth Supercars Championship title by winning the second race of the weekend.[6] At the same event, Scott McLaughlin won the first championship event for Volvo since 1986.

Winners

Year Driver[3] Team Car Report
1990 Australia Dick Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500
1991

1992
not held
1993 Australia Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EB Falcon
1994 Australia Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EB Falcon
1995 Australia Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EF Falcon
1996 Australia Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden VR Commodore
1997 Australia Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden VS Commodore
1998 Australia Craig Lowndes Holden Racing Team Holden VS Commodore
1999 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VT Commodore
2000 Australia Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VT Commodore
2001 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore Report
2002 Australia Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore
2003 Australia Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford BA Falcon
2004

2008
not held 1 2
20093 Australia Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford FG Falcon Report
2010

2011
not held 2
2012 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Racing Ford FG Falcon Report
2013 Australia Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore
2014 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvo S60 Report
2015 Australia Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore
2016 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvo S60 Report
Notes

Multiple winners

By driver

Wins Driver Years
3 Australia Glenn Seton 1993, 1994, 1995
Australia Mark Skaife 1999, 2001, 2002
Australia Craig Lowndes 1998, 2003, 2015
2 Australia Jamie Whincup 2009, 2013
New Zealand Scott McLaughlin 2014, 2016

By team

Wins Team
4 Holden Racing Team
3 Glenn Seton Racing
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Garry Rogers Motorsport
2 Perkins Engineering

By manufacturer

Wins Manufacturer
9 Holden
7 Ford
2 Volvo

Event sponsors

See also

References

  1. Dale, Will (5 April 2016). "Phillip Island event to run to three day format". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  2. "V8 Supercars Operations Manual 2016 - Division A - Administration Rules" (PDF). V8 Supercars. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 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. Clarke, Andrew; Wensley, Scott (2007). V8 Supercars: The First Decade. Carnegie, Victoria: Publishing 101. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-9803909-0-2.
  5. "V8 Supercars announces 2012 calendar". Speedcafe. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  6. Howard, Tom (15 November 2014). "Whincup clinches record sixth title in style". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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