Jamie Whincup – Car #1
“Clipsal is one of the biggest events on the calendar and a great way to kick off another big Championship. It got away from us last year after a controversial drive through penalty in Sunday’s race, but I’ll never forget that battle on Saturday. We have done a fair bit of work after our poor showing at the SuperTest to make sure we are giving ourselves a great opportunity this weekend. We come into the event on a level playing field, but you can never discount anyone.”
Craig Lowndes – Car #888
“Clipsal is one of the toughest races of the season. I classify it as that because you’re coming out of Christmas having not had a great deal of opportunity to be inside a race car. It’s a street circuit, temperature is always a very big factor over there, so is weather in the sense of rain, but it is a circuit where if you’ve had a successful weekend you get that momentum started and of course you start the championship off on a positive note. We had a great run there last year, now we’re looking forward to doing it again this year. Obviously this will be the first event that I’ll be with Grant, my new engineer, and I’m really looking forward to getting some great success.”
Red Bull Racing Australia head into the season opener as the reigning V8 Supercars champions, but don’t think that any laurels will be rested on in this team. The start of a new year means starting from scratch – the slate is wiped clean and everyone’s on equal terms.
Both JDub and Lowndesy have enjoyed great success on the streets of Adelaide. The Clipsal 500 is a unique event in that the winner of Sunday’s 250km race is crowned the overall victor, regardless of round points. While Craig’s only event win came at the very first running in 1999, Jamie has clocked up four. If we’re counting individual race wins though, our guys lead the field with eight to JW and six to CL.
This year sees the event run in its new format for the second time, with two 125km races on Saturday and the 250km mini marathon on Sunday. The biggest test of the Clipsal 500 is usually the heat, but it’s undoubtedly one of the toughest events on our calendar from all angles.
Clipsal 500 – Adelaide Parklands Circuit
Circuit length: 3.22km
Circuit direction: clockwise
Average speed: 146km/h
Maximum speed: 251km/h
Fastest point: Adelaide Straight
Slowest point: Hairpin
2014
| JW | CL | |
| Qualifying R1 | 1st | 2nd |
| Race 1 | 1st | 2nd |
| Qualifying R2 | 3rd | 1st |
| Race 2 | 3rd | 1st |
| Qualifying R3 | 3rd | 2nd |
| Shootout | 2nd | 7th |
| Race 3 | 15th | 2nd |
