The Sandown SuperSprint was 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 returned to the championship in 2021.
Format The event was staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Three thirty-minute practice sessions were held, two on Friday, one of them was a co-driver session, and one on Saturday. Saturday featured a three-part qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 110 kilometre race. Two separated ten-minute qualifying sessions were held on Sunday, which decided the grid for the following 110 km races.Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint schedule set Supercars 8 August 2022
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. 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. Sandown would not hold another championship event until 1970, when the series had expanded to seven rounds.
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 Johnson's eponymous team won three further events in 1992, 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Steven Ellery won his only career race at the event. 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.
In 2020, the 500 was again scheduled to be moved, this time to 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. 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. Shane van Gisbergen won all three races, including the first from 17th on the grid, only two weeks after breaking his collarbone in a mountain biking accident.
Winners Year Driver Team Car Report 1965 Norm Beechey Neptune Racing Team Ford Mustang Report 1966–1969not 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 1975event cancelled 1976 Colin Bond Holden Dealer Team Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 1977 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 1990not held 1991 Jim Richards Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R 1992 John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500 1993not 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 Report 2003–2007not held 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 2012–2019not held 2020not held due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden ZB Commodore 2022 Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden ZB Commodore 2023–2024not held 2025 Chaz Mostert Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustang S650 Notes – In 1976 and 1977, Sandown Raceway also hosted a second championship round, the Hang Ten 400. – From 2003 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2019, 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 Shane van Gisbergen 2021, 2022
By team Wins Team 7 Dick Johnson Racing 4 Gibson Motorsport Holden Racing Team 3 Allan Moffat Racing Holden Dealer Team Triple Eight Race Engineering 2 Bob Jane Racing
By manufacturer Wins Manufacturer 16 Ford Holden 3 Nissan 2 Chevrolet
Event names and sponsors 1965, 1972–74, 1976–82, 1984, 1987–89, 1991–92, 1994–2001: Sandown 1970: Sterling Southern 60 1971: Marlboro Southern Sixty 1983: International Motor Show Trophy 1985: Pye Audio Round 2 1986: Castrol Challenge 2002: Betta Electrical V8 Ultimate 2008: Midas 400 2009–11: Norton 360 Sandown Challenge 2021–22: Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint
See also List of Australian Touring Car Championship races
References