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 First run in 1994, the sprint event was a support race to the Gold Coast Indy 300 and from 2010 was superseded by an endurance format known as the Gold Coast 600.
| |
| 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 | |
 Mark Winterbottom |
Ford Performance Racing |
| Race Winners | |
| Mark Winterbottom |
Ford Performance Racing |
| Garth Tander |
Holden Racing Team |
| Craig Lowndes |
Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| Mark Winterbottom |
Ford Performance Racing |
History
editBackground
editThe 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
editThe 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
editFrom 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
editIn 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
editEvents which were not championship rounds are indicated by a pink background.
Multiple winners
editBy driver
editWins 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- 1994: Courier Mail Gold Coast 100
- 1996: EA Sports Touring Cars
- 1997–98: Hog's Breath V8 Supercar Challenge
- 1999, 2007: V8 Supercar Challenge
- 2000: FAI V8 Supercar Challenge
- 2001: Cabcharge V8 Supercar Challenge
- 2002–06: Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge
- 2008: The Coffee Club V8 Supercar Challenge
- 2009: Gold Coast Nikon SuperGP
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Lomas, Gordon (23 October 2016). "GC600 marks silver anniversary of street race". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
- ^ "Sufers Paul Radisich Report". au.motorsport.com. 17 October 1999. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ O'Brien, Connor (20 October 2022). "When the Rat ruled the Gold Coast streets". V8 Sleuth. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ 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.