Sydney SuperNight 300
 | |
| Race Information | |
| Venue | Sydney Motorsport Park |
| Number of times held | 21 |
| First held | 1992 |
| Race Format | |
| Race 1 | |
| Laps | 77 |
| Distance | 300 km |
| Last Event (2018) | |
| Overall Winner | |
 | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| Race Winners | |
| Triple Eight Race Engineering |
The Sydney SuperNight 300 (formally known as the Red Rooster Sydney SuperNight 300[1]) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Sydney Motorsport Park in Eastern Creek, New South Wales. 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 1992. As of 2018, it is the only Supercars event to be held in metropolitan Sydney.[2]
Format
The event is staged over two days, from Friday to Saturday. A forty minute practice session is run under lights on Friday night before a half hour practice session on Saturday afternoon. Later in the afternoon, a three-phase knockout qualifying session is run, determining the grid for the 300 kilometre night race.[3]
History
Opened in 1990 as Eastern Creek Raceway, the circuit hosted non-championship events before its first official ATCC event in 1992. John Bowe won both races of the inaugural championship 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.[4]
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 Supercars 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 Supercars rounds in 2003 and 2004, the other being the Grand Finale, the final round of the series. In 2005, Lowndes took the first Supercars race and round win for Triple Eight Race Engineering, before the event dropped off the calendar again in 2006.[4]
In winning the event in 2007, Skaife broke Peter Brock's long-standing record of 37 round victories in the ATCC and Supercars Championship, 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. The event was held on the Queen's Birthday long weekend, with qualifying and the first race on Sunday and the final two races on the Monday. In 2008, Will Davison took his first Supercars 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.[4]
After hosting the series' pre-season test day in 2011, the renamed Sydney Motorsport Park returned to the Supercars calendar in 2012 as a late addition.[5] 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 2014 and 2015 events included rain-affected races, with the events won by Shane van Gisbergen and Chaz Mostert respectively.[6][7] In the 2016 event Jamie Whincup won his 100th championship race, defeating Craig Lowndes, who was driving in his record 600th championship race, in a race-long battle.[8] One year later, Whincup won his 106th championship race at the Sydney event, surpassing Lowndes' record of 105 wins.[9]
In 2018, the event format changed to feature a single 300 kilometre race at night, the first event under lights in the championship since the 2011 Yas V8 400 and the first in Australia since the 1997 Calder Park round.[10][11] Like the 1996 night event, it was originally planned to use the 2.8km Druitt circuit, however, after further testing of the lighting system, it was decided that it would be held on the 3.9km Gardner Circuit like previous events at the track.[12][11] The race itself was won by van Gisbergen, who overtook Scott McLaughlin in a late race battle following a safety car.[13]
The event has been excluded from the schedule for the 2019 Supercars Championship.[14]
Winners
- Notes
- ^1 – The 1996 event was held on the original North Circuit. All other years have been held on the Grand Prix (Gardner) layout.
- ^2 – In 2003 and 2004, Sydney Motorsport Park (née Eastern Creek) also hosted a second round of the V8 Supercars Championship Series, the Grand Finale.
Multiple winners
By driver
| Wins | Driver | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 6 |  |
1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007 |
| 3 | |
1996, 2005, 2012 |
| 2 | |
1993, 1997 |
|
2014, 2018 |
By team
| Wins | Team |
|---|---|
| 7 | Holden Racing Team |
| 4 | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| 3 | DJR Team Penske1 |
| 2 | Glenn Seton Racing |
By manufacturer
| Wins | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 13 | Holden |
| 8 | Ford |
- Notes
- ^1 – DJR Team Penske was known as Dick Johnson Racing from 1980 to 2014, hence their statistics are combined.
Event sponsors
- 2016–present: Red Rooster[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 "Red Rooster joins V8 Supercars". V8 Supercars. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ↑ "Night racing here to stay, so where should the Supercars target next?". The Roar. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ↑ van Leeuwen, Andrew (18 May 2018). "Supercars expands night running for Sydney's SuperNight format". Autosport. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- 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.
- ↑ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (22 April 2012). "Eastern Creek added to 2012 V8 Supercars calendar". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ Howard, Tom (23 August 2014). "Van Gisbergen does the double at SMP". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (23 August 2015). "Chaz Mostert wins rain hit Sydney finale". Speedcafe. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- ↑ Fogarty, Mark (28 August 2016). "Holden's Jamie Whincup wins to reach Supercars ton". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
- ↑ Howard, Tom (20 August 2017). "Whincup downplays Supercars milestone". Speedcafe. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- ↑ Howard, Tom (3 October 2017). "Sydney night race to join 2018 Supercars calendar". Speedcafe. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
- 1 2 "SuperNight to run on full Sydney Circuit". supercars.com. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
- ↑ "Short circuit for SMP Supercars night race". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ↑ Herrero, Dan (5 August 2018). "Van Gisbergen wins Sydney SuperNight thriller". Speedcafe. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ↑ Adam, Mitchell (11 October 2018). "Calendar revealed for 2019 Supercars Championship". Supercars. Retrieved 11 October 2018.