Sandown 500
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| |
| Race Information | |
| Venue | Sandown Raceway |
| Number of times held | 49 |
| First held | 1964 |
| Race Format | |
| Race 1 | |
| Laps | 161 |
| Distance | 500 km |
| Last Event (2023) | |
| Overall Winner | |
 Broc Feeney Jamie Whincup |
Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| Race Winners | |
| Broc Feeney Jamie Whincup |
Triple Eight Race Engineering |
The Sandown 500 (commercially titled
Historically the event was held in September, the month before Australia's premier endurance race, the Bathurst 1000. However for its 2019 running, it was held in November.[1][2] The event returned in September 2023 after a three-year hiatus.[3]
History
Production car era
The first two races were open to production based sedans and, at six hours duration, were substantially longer than later iterations of the race. Both races were won by an
Group C Touring Car era
The race was contested by the newly introduced
Group A Touring Car era
Group C was replaced by Australian regulations based on International
Group 3A Touring Car era
The
Nations Cup era
The second hiatus in the history of the race commenced in 1999 when a
V8 Supercars era
By 2003, new owners of Queensland Raceway had tired of the relative expense of the 500 kilometre endurance race format, resulting in the Sandown 500 again being contested by V8 Supercars. By 2003, the 500 kilometre event, as well as the Bathurst 1000, was also included as a points-paying event within each V8 Supercars season, which meant that the circuit's sprint event dropped off the championship for the first extended period since the 1960s.
The 2003 race, which featured a mid-race hail storm, was also notable for a late race battle between Mark Skaife and Jason Richards in wet conditions. On the penultimate lap, Richards attempted to pass Skaife for the lead at Turn 9, but ended up bogged in the gravel trap and out of the race. Skaife also toured the gravel trap but was able to rejoin the track and went on to win.[5] The 2004, 2005 and 2006 races saw the debut championship event wins in the category for Greg Ritter, Yvan Muller and Mark Winterbottom respectively. In 2007, Lowndes won the event for the fourth time, with Jamie Whincup. Lowndes and Whincup would go on to become the first pairing to win the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 in the same year since Lowndes and Murphy in 1996.
After a change of promoter of Sandown Raceway's motorsport activities, a changed V8 Supercars calendar resulted in the
Australian Manufacturers' Championship
The Sandown 500 was revived in 2011 as a round of the Australian Manufacturers' Championship.[7] It was split into two legs, run on Saturday and Sunday, with the overall placings based on the combined results of the two legs. The semi-factory supported Mitsubishi entry of Stuart Kostera and Ian Tulloch claimed the win in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
Return of Supercars
The Sandown 500 returned to the V8 Supercars calendar in 2012, replacing the Phillip Island 500 to again become the traditional lead-in race to the
From 2016 onwards, the newly-renamed Supercars Championship promoted the event as a "retro round", with several teams adopting one-off liveries for the event.
The 2019 event was scheduled in November, resulting in no lead-in endurance event to the Bathurst 1000, while the Saturday grid races became official championship points-paying races.[13] It was also announced in the months leading up to the event that the Sandown 500 would not return in 2020, to be replaced by The Bend 500 at The Bend Motorsport Park. Sandown is scheduled to remain on the calendar with the return of the circuit's sprint event.[2] At the final scheduled running of the event, Triple Eight, who had dropped to two entrants in 2019, were on track for another one-two finish before a mechanical failure while leading took the van Gisbergen/Tander entry, who had started from second last on the grid, out of contention. Whincup inherited the lead and won the race with Craig Lowndes, a repeat of their 2007 win together and their fifth and sixth wins of the race respectively. Meanwhile, after being relegated to last position on the grid for a technical infringement dating back to the 2019 Bathurst 1000, Scott McLaughin secured the 2019 Supercars Championship with a round to spare with a ninth place finish driving with Alexandre Prémat.[14]
List of winners
- Notes
- ^1 – Despite the event's name, the race was only scheduled for 338 kilometres due to broadcasting constraints.[4]
- ^2 – Race was stopped before full race distance.
- ^3 – The .05 (pronounced "point-oh-five") in the event name for 1989 was part of a Government campaign targeting drink-driving; 0.05% is the legal blood alcohol content limit in Australia.
Records and statistics
Multiple winners
By driver
| Wins | Driver | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Peter Brock
|
1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984 |
| 6 |  Allan Moffat
|
1969, 1970, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1988 |
| Craig Lowndes
|
1996, 1997, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2019 | |
| Jamie Whincup
|
2007, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2023 | |
| 3 | George Fury
|
1986, 1987, 1990 |
| Larry Perkins
|
1984, 1992, 1998 | |
| John Bowe
|
1994, 1995, 2001 | |
| Paul Dumbrell
|
2013, 2014, 2018 | |
| 2 |  Jim Richards
|
1985, 1989 |
| Glenn Seton
|
1986, 1990 | |
| Dick Johnson
|
1994, 1995 | |
| Greg Murphy
|
1996, 1997 | |
| Mark Skaife
|
1989, 2003 | |
| Mark Winterbottom
|
2006, 2015 | |
| Warren Luff
|
2012, 2016 |
By entrant
| Wins | Entrant |
|---|---|
| 8 | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| 7 | Holden Dealer Team |
| 4 | Allan Moffat Racing |
Holden Racing Team
| |
| 3 | Gibson Motorsport |
Prodrive Racing Australia
| |
| 2 | Alec Mildren Racing
|
Ford Works Team
| |
| Glenn Seton Racing | |
| Dick Johnson Racing | |
| Perkins Engineering |
By manufacturer
| Wins | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 22 | Holden |
| 15 | Ford |
| 4 | Nissan
|
| 2 | Alfa Romeo |
| Mazda |
Most pole positions
| Rank | Driver | Poles[4] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Brock
|
9 |
| 2 | Dick Johnson
|
5 |
| Allan Moffat
|
Most podiums
| Rank | Driver | Podiums[4] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Brock
|
11 |
| 2 | Allan Moffat
|
10 |
| Craig Lowndes
|
Event sponsors
- 1968–69: Datsun
- 1976–81: Hang Ten
- 1982–87: Castrol
- 1988: Enzed
- 1989: .05
- 1991–92: Don't Drink Drive
- 1996–98: Tickford
- 2001: Clarion
- 2003–05: Betta Electrical
- 2007: Just Car Insurance
- 2011: Dial Before You Dig
- 2012: Dick Smith
- 2013–17: Wilson Security
- 2018: RABBLE.club
- 2019, 2023: Penrite Oil
See also
References
- ^ Big Changes to 2019 Supercars Calendar Auto Action 11 October 2018
- ^ a b Howard, Tom (28 August 2019). "Supercars drops QR, Phillip Island in revised 2020 calendar". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- ^ 2023 Supercars calendar sees Sandown 500 return Speedcafe.com 23 November 2022
- ^ a b c d e f Bartholomaeus, Stefan (6 November 2019). "End of an era: Sandown 500's complex history". Supercars. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-9805912-2-4.
- ^ "Big bang V8 Supercar farewell for grand old lady in 2008". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. 6 October 2007. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
- ^ Return of the Sandown 500 Archived 18 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "V8 Supercars Announces Prestigious Endurance Cup". 20 February 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ^ Fogarty, Mark (2 April 2016). "V8 Supercars: Sandown 500 to become 'retro round' in nod to history". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
- ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (18 September 2016). "Tander/Luff win thrilling Sandown 500". Speedcafe. Speedcafe. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
- ^ Howard, Tom (17 September 2017). "Waters/Stanaway claim Sandown 500 win". Speedcafe. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ Herrero, Daniel (16 September 2018). "Whincup/Dumbrell lead T8 Sandown podium sweep". Speedcafe. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
- ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (4 November 2019). "Sandown 500 format changes explained". Supercars. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ O'Brien, Connor (10 November 2019). "Whincup/Lowndes win, McLaughlin secures title". Supercars. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ Event No. 2, Sandown Three Hour Datsun Trophy Race, Official Programme, Sandown, Sunday, September 15 (1968)
- ^ "Betta Electrical Sandown 500 History". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2006.
- ^ "Sandown International Motor Raceway:The History of Sandown". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2006.
- ^ Official Programme, International 6 Hour Touring Car Race, Sunday, 21 November 1965
External links
- 2017 Sandown 500 Official event website