Sandown Super400
The Sandown Super400 is a Supercars motor racing event held at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was held in various years from 1965 to 2011, and is due to return in the 2020 Supercars Championship.[1]
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| Race Information | |
| Venue | Sandown Raceway |
| Number of times held | 35 |
| First held | 1965 |
| Last held | 2011 |
| Race Format | |
| Race 1 | |
| Laps | 65 |
| Distance | 200 km |
| Race 2 | |
| Laps | 65 |
| Distance | 200 km |
| Last Event (2011) | |
| Overall Winner | |
.svg.png){kind=small} | Ford Performance Racing |
| Race Winners | |
| Kelly Racing |
| Triple Eight Race Engineering |
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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 is again scheduled to be moved, this time to The Bend 500 at The Bend Motorsport Park. This has resulted in Sandown being scheduled to host its first sprint event since 2011.[1]
Winners
- Notes
- ^1 – In 1976 and 1977, Sandown Raceway also hosted a second championship round, the Hang Ten 400.
- ^2 – From 2003 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2019, Sandown Raceway hosted the Sandown 500 as a championship round.
Multiple winners
By driver
| Wins | Driver | Years |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | .svg.png){kind=small} |
1972, 1973, 1974, 1977 |
|
1981, 1982, 1988, 1989 | |
| 2 | |
1965, 1970 |
|
1984, 1985 | |
|
1987, 1997 | |
|
1996, 1998 | |
|
1994, 1999 | |
|
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 |
Event sponsors
- 1970: Sterling
- 1971: Marlboro
- 1983: International Motor Show
- 1985: Pye Audio
- 1986: Castrol
- 2002: Betta Electrical
- 2008: Midas
- 2009–11: Norton 360
- 2020: Penrite Oil
References
- Howard, Tom (28 August 2019). "Supercars drops QR, Phillip Island in revised 2020 calendar". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
- 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.
- Fogarty, Mark (15 April 2016). "The best of the V8 Supercars 500". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- Noonan, Aaron (17 March 2018). "Saturday Sleuthing: Steve Ellery". Supercars. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- "Jack Daniel's Racing happy with Sandown first race - Supercars News". Motorsport.com. 19 November 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2019.