Last held 2016 Distance 120 km Distance 200 km Number of times held 18 | Laps 27 Laps 45 First held 1990 | |
 | ||
Venue Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | ||
Highlights race 33 wd 40 phillip island supersprint
The Phillip Island SuperSprint (formally known as the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint) was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island, Victoria. The event was a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Australian Touring Car Championship, Shell Championship Series and V8 Supercars Championship—since 1990.
Contents
- Highlights race 33 wd 40 phillip island supersprint
- Highlights qual race 33 wd 40 phillip island supersprint
- Format
- History
- Winners
- Event sponsors
- References
The circuit has also previously hosted championship rounds as the Phillip Island 500, in 1976 and 1977, from 2008 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards, and as the Grand Finale from 2005 to 2007.
Highlights qual race 33 wd 40 phillip island supersprint
Format
The event is staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two one-hour practice sessions are held on Friday while a fifteen-minute practice session is held on Saturday. Saturday features a fifteen-minute qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre race. A single twenty-minute qualifying session is held on Sunday to decide the grid for the following 200 km race.
History
While the Phillip Island 500 was a part of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) in 1976 and 1977, the circuit did not host a sprint round of the championship until 1990. Dick Johnson won the first event, his final round win in the ATCC. After being absent from the calendar in 1991 and 1992, Phillip Island returned to the ATCC in 1993 and Glenn Seton went on to dominate the event, winning five of the six races held across 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Despite the early success of Johnson and Seton for Ford, Holden went on to win all seven events from 1996 to 2002. Jason Bargwanna suffered a major crash during the 2002 event when Greg Murphy squeezed him off the track, sending Bargwanna's car into the tyre wall and a series of rolls before it came to rest in the middle of the track. Later in the event, Max Wilson's car suffered heavy damage when he was hit by Craig Lowndes after Wilson had been spun by Marcos Ambrose. Meanwhile, Paul Romano was given a 150-point penalty for deliberately colliding with Rodney Forbes. The penalty saw Romano finish the season with negative points.
Phillip Island did not feature on the Supercars calendar in 2004 while from 2005 to 2011 the circuit hosted the Grand Finale and the revival of the Phillip Island 500. The one exception to this was 2009, in which Phillip Island hosted both a sprint event as well as the endurance event, due to the late cancellation of that year's Desert 400 in Bahrain. The Sandown 500 returned to the calendar in 2012, in place of the Phillip Island 500, and Phillip Island reverted to hosting a sprint round of the championship. The 2013 event saw Alexandre Prémat's car leave the track at high speed and hit the driver's door of James Courtney's car. Courtney fractured his tibia in the incident and was forced to miss the next, and final, round of the season at the Sydney 500. In 2014, Jamie Whincup secured a record sixth Supercars Championship title by winning the second race of the weekend. At the same event, Scott McLaughlin won the first championship event for Volvo since 1986.
In 2017, the Phillip Island round was extended to 500 km, across two races, and the Phillip Island 500 name was revived.