Laps 50 Laps 84 Number of times held 44 | Distance 120 km Distance 200 km First held 1969 | |
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Race recap tyrepower tasmania supersprint
The Tasmania SuperSprint (formally known as the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Symmons Plains Raceway in Launcestion, Tasmania. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Australian Touring Car Championship, Shell Championship Series and V8 Supercars Championship—since 1969. The event was not held from 2000 to 2003 and the circuit received a A$3 million upgrade during this period.
Contents
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 sprint race. A single twenty-minute qualifying session is held on Sunday to decide the grid for the following 200 km race.
History
When the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) was first held over a series of race in 1969, Symmons Plains was included on the calendar as the final race of the series. The race would decide the championship that year, as Alan Hamilton could take the title from Ian Geoghegan if he won the race and Geoghegan failed to score. Geoghegan's car failed to start at the one-minute signal and his pit crew push started the car. This was not allowed under the regulations of the time and Geoghegan was disqualified. Hamilton ended up finishing the race in second place behind Norm Beechey, losing the title to Geoghegan by a single point.
After again hosting the final round in 1970, Symmons Plains became the home of the opening round, hosting the first event of the ATCC every year from 1971 to 1981. Allan Moffat and Peter Brock were the most successful drivers at the event in this period, taking seven of the eleven possible victories between them. John Harvey scored his two ATCC victories at the event, winning in 1976 and 1979. Dick Johnson joined Moffat as the only two drivers to win three consecutive rounds at the circuit.
In the late 1990s, Holden Racing Team dominated the event with four consecutive round wins from 1996 to 1999. Despite not hosting the opening round again, the Symmons Plains event remained in the early part of the ATCC calendar until 1999, when it was moved to August. The circuit was dropped from the Supercars calendar for 2000. The circuit received a A$3 million upgrade in 2004, which included the construction of permanent pit lane facilities and a resurfacing of the track. The Supercars Championship returned the same year with an event held in November. The event was then held in November, usually as the penultimate round in the series, until 2008. For 2009, the event moved back to the early part of the season before returning to November for 2010 and 2011. Since 2012, the event has been the second round of the championship. In recent years, Jamie Whincup and Triple Eight Race Engineering have dominated the event with six wins since 2007. This has seen Whincup surpass Brock as the most successful driver in the event's history.
Behind Sandown Raceway, which has hosted the Sandown 500 and Sandown Challenge, Symmons Plains has hosted the most events in championship history.