Sandown SuperSprint

The Sandown SuperSprint is 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 is due to return to the championship in 2021.[1]

Sandown SuperSprint
Race Information
Venue Sandown Raceway
Number of times held 35
First held 1965
Race Format
Race 1
Laps 65
Distance 200 km
Race 2
Laps 65
Distance 200 km
Last Event (2011)
Overall Winner
Will DavisonFord Performance Racing
Race Winners
Rick KellyKelly Racing
Jamie WhincupTriple Eight Race Engineering

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.[2] 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.[3] Sandown would not hold another championship event until 1970, when the series had expanded to seven rounds.[2]

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.[4] 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.[5]

In 2020, the Sandown 500 was again scheduled to be moved, this time to The Bend 500 at 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.[6] 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.[7][1]

Winners

Year Driver[2] Team Car Report
1965 Norm Beechey Neptune Racing Team Ford Mustang Report
1966

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

2007
not held 2
2008 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BF Falcon Report
2009 Will Davison Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore Report
2010 James Courtney Dick Johnson Racing Ford FG Falcon
2011 Will Davison Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon
Notes
  • ^1 – In 1976 and 1977, Sandown Raceway also hosted a second championship round, the Hang Ten 400.
  • ^2 – From 2003 to 2007, Sandown Raceway hosted the Sandown 500 as a championship round.

Multiple winners

By driver

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

By team

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

By manufacturer

Wins Manufacturer
16 Ford
14 Holden
3 Nissan
2 Chevrolet

Event names and sponsors

  • 2021: Sandown SuperSprint

See also

References

  1. Coch, Mat (12 January 2021). "Supercars confirms Grand Prix alternative". Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. 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. Fogarty, Mark (15 April 2016). "The best of the V8 Supercars 500". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  4. Noonan, Aaron (17 March 2018). "Saturday Sleuthing: Steve Ellery". Supercars. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  5. "Jack Daniel's Racing happy with Sandown first race - Supercars News". Motorsport.com. 19 November 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  6. van Leeuwen, Andrew (30 August 2020). "Official: 2020 Supercars season will end at Bathurst". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  7. Chapman, Simon (2 December 2020). "Supercars puts Sandown on standby". Speedcafe. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
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