The V8 Supercar Challenge was an annual V8 Supercars event held each October at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. First run in 1994, the sprint event was a support race to the Gold Coast Indy 300 and from 2010 was superseded by an endurance format known as the Gold Coast 600.

Queensland V8 Supercar Challenge
Race Information
Venue Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Number of times held 15
First held 1994
Last held 2009
Race Format
Race 1
Laps 34
Distance 150 km
Race 2
Laps 34
Distance 150 km
Race 3
Laps 34
Distance 150 km
Race 4
Laps 34
Distance 150 km
Last Event (2009)
Overall Winner
Australia Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing
Race Winners
Australia Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing
Australia Garth Tander Holden Racing Team
Australia Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering
Australia Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing

History

edit

Background

edit

The Gold Coast, of which Surfers Paradise is a suburb, had long had an association with touring cars through Surfers Paradise International Raceway in the suburb of Carrara. The track held numerous rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), a previous incarnation of Supercars, between 1969 and 1987.[1]

Non-championship era

edit

The Gold Coast Indy 300 was first run in 1991, however it was not until 1994 that touring cars joined the event.[2] The event, featuring cars from the ATCC, was run as a non-championship exhibition round, supporting the then CART FedEx Championship Series event. In the next two years, cars from the two-litre Australian Super Touring Championship were a support category at the event; in 1995 as the sole touring car category and in 1996 one of two touring car support categories alongside the return of the ATCC cars. Greg Murphy won the Super Touring event in both years for Brad Jones Racing. From 1997 onwards, the event returned to solely featuring five-litre ATCC cars, the category that was now known as V8 Supercars. The 1998 event was notable for providing Mark Larkham with the only event win of his decade-long full-time touring car career, albeit at a non-championship event. Due to the often crash-filled nature of the rounds, its non-championship status and the relatively quick turn-around time between the event and the Bathurst 1000, some teams used older model cars at the event, such as in 1999 when Paul Radisich won the event with a 1998-spec Ford EL Falcon, instead of their usual AU Falcon.[3] Radisich went on to win five consecutive races at the event in 1999 and 2000.[4]

Championship era

edit

From 2002, the event became an official V8 Supercars championship round, with the series given equal billing to the CART event.[2] Jason Bargwanna won the first championship event at the circuit, scoring victory on a countback after finishing the weekend level on points with Craig Lowndes.[5] The 2004 event was notable for Marcos Ambrose being fined for brake-testing Rick Kelly following Ambrose's race victory on the Saturday.[5] Jamie Whincup clean-swept the final sprint event at the circuit in 2008 on the way to his first championship victory. From 2002 until 2008, the most common race format was three races over the weekend, with one on Saturday and two on Sunday. The driver with the most points accumulated over the three races was awarded first place for the weekend, with no driver able to achieve a repeat event victory in this time.

Transition into Endurance Format

edit

In late 2008, it was announced the IndyCar Series would not be returning to the Gold Coast in 2009, bringing to an end the Indy era. A1 Grand Prix, which had been scheduled to replace IndyCar, then pulled out of the event with only weeks to go, leaving V8 Supercars as the lead category for the first time in the Gold Coast event's history.[2] Subsequently, to fill the last minute hole in the schedule, the 2009 event expanded its format to two 150 km races each on Saturday and Sunday. This format changed into two 300 km races one on saturday and one on sunday into 2010 and beyond with the introduction of the Gold Coast 600 name.

Winners

edit

Events which were not championship rounds are indicated by a pink background.

Year Driver Team Car Report
1994   John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford EB Falcon Report
1995 not held
1996   John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford EF Falcon Report
1997   Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden VS Commodore Report
1998   Mark Larkham Larkham Motor Sport Ford EL Falcon Report
1999   Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford EL Falcon Report
2000   Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford AU Falcon Report
2001   Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VX Commodore Report
2002   Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VX Commodore
2003   Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford BA Falcon
2004   Greg Murphy Kmart Racing Team Holden VY Commodore
2005   Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BA Falcon
2006   Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden VZ Commodore
2007   Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team Holden VE Commodore Report
2008   Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BF Falcon Report
2009   Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon Report

Multiple winners

edit

By driver

edit

Wins which did not count towards the championship season are indicated by a pink background.

Event wins Driver Years
2   John Bowe 1994, 1996
  Paul Radisich 1999, 2000
  Russell Ingall 1997, 2003
  Garth Tander 2001, 2007

By team

edit
Event wins Team
4 Dick Johnson Racing
2 Garry Rogers Motorsport
HSV Dealer Team1
Triple Eight Race Engineering

By manufacturer

edit
Event wins Manufacturer
9 Ford
6 Holden
Notes
  • ^1 – HSV Dealer Team was known as Kmart Racing from 2001 to 2004, hence their statistics are combined.

Event names and sponsors

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c Lomas, Gordon (23 October 2016). "GC600 marks silver anniversary of street race". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  3. ^ "Sufers Paul Radisich Report". au.motorsport.com. 17 October 1999. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  4. ^ O'Brien, Connor (20 October 2022). "When the Rat ruled the Gold Coast streets". V8 Sleuth. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b "LOOK BACK: The Indy 300 glory years to V8s at Gold Coast 600". Gold Coast Bulletin. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2017.