Sydney Motorsport Park 400 Fast Facts
- Though we’ve tested at Sydney Motorsport Park for the last two years, this will be the first time that the Cars of the Future go head-to-head with points on the line as the V8 Supercars Championship hasn’t raced here since 2012.
- This will also be the first time the bulls charge for victory here, Red Bull Racing Australia having never actually competed at the circuit formerly known as Eastern Creek International Raceway.
- It’s a place of history for both Lowndesy and Triple Eight as, not only is this the site of the No.888 Holden driver’s first ATCC race win back in 1996 (on career debut we might add), it’s also where he claimed the team’s first ever victory in 2005.
- You may be surprised to know that Jamie’s sole podium here comes in the form of a race win on Sunday in 2012. That’s the only time he’s finished in the top three throughout his six career events at SMP.
- On the other hand though, we’ve got Craig who has claimed eight podiums at this track, finishing in the top three with every team he’s ever driven for. Five of those are race wins, including two for Triple Eight in 2005 and 2012.
Triple Eight at Sydney Motorsport Park (2012)
| CRAIG | JAMIE | |
| Qualifying R1 | 6th | 1st |
| Race 1 | 1st | 23rd |
| Qualifying R2 | 1st | 2nd |
| Race 2 | 2nd | 1st |
What the Drivers Say
Lowndesy: “It’s going to be exciting to go back to Sydney Motorsport Park after a long break from racing there, even though we tested there earlier this year. It’s a track I enjoy and I had my first win for Triple Eight and my first ever V8 Supercars win there, so it’s very much a sentimental circuit for me.
“I’m looking forward to finishing the Super Sprint rounds for the year, apart from Phillip Island, on a positive note and obviously get our teeth into enduros.
“Although it’s a two day format, we’ve still got a three day weekend. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out with the two day format – I’m a fan of trying to condense everything as much as possible, so I’m really looking forward to the event.”
J-Dub: “It feels like we’re starting from scratch at Sydney Motorsport Park because the last time we were there for a race meeting it was in the old car. In saying that though we were competitive then, so I’d like to think that we’re in with a shot this weekend.
“We haven’t learnt a lot at Sydney Motorsport Park through the test days, so it’s going to come down to how good a job we can do on the weekend. It’s crazy challenging because we not only have the hard and soft tyre compounds to contend with, but looking at the weather it looks like we’ll be running on wets. It’s going to be an engineering nightmare, but it’s the same for everyone so we’ll just have to do a better job than everyone else. The key will be being on the right tyre at the right time.
“Hopefully plenty of Sydneysiders come out to support and we make a good weekend of it.”
Drivers Championship Standings
Jamie Whincup – 1790
Mark Winterbottom – 1775
Craig Lowndes – 1628
James Courtney – 1598
Fabian Coulthard – 1535
Teams Championship Standings
RBRA – 3468
FPR – 3122
HRT – 2932
BJR – 2660
Norton Hornets – 2101
