The Winton SuperSprint was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Winton Motor Raceway in Winton, Victoria. 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—between 1985 and 2022.

The event was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned in 2022 before being omitted again from the 2023 calendar.

Format The event was staged over a two-day weekend, from Saturday to Sunday. Saturday featured two thirty-minute practice sessions, then a three-stage knockout qualifying session which decided the grid positions for the following 110 kilometre race. Two separated ten-minute qualifying sessions were held on Sunday, which decided the grid for the following 110 km races.Supercars schedule for long-awaited Winton return Speedcafe.com 17 May 2022

History Jim Richards won the first two Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) events at Winton in 1985 and 1986. The 1985 event marked the only time in the history of the ATCC that a Holden did not compete in the race. Richards won the race by a lap over his teammate Neville Crichton, both in BMW 635CSis, while Kevin Bartlett finished third in a Mitsubishi Starion. Richards' 1986 win came only after the Nissan Skyline of Gary Scott was excluded for using oversized front brake caliper pistons. Nissan would go on to dominate the event, winning every year from 1989 to 1992. George Fury's win in 1989 ended a fifteen-race winning streak by the Ford Sierra RS500, which had won every ATCC race in 1988 and the first six races of 1989. The race was run in wet conditions and featured various leaders, including Peter Brock in a Sierra, Fury and Mark Skaife in Skylines and Allan Grice in a Holden Commodore. Brock finished in second despite a spin while Skaife took his first ATCC podium finish.

The circuit was extended in 1997 and Larry Perkins took his first and only ATCC pole position at that year's event. His teammate Russell Ingall won all three races during the weekend to take overall victory ahead of Perkins and Glenn Seton. In the second race of the 2000 round, Seton took his final career race victory, and was leading the third race until a sudden chain of events saw Seton and four other drivers in the leading pack have incidents in the space of two corners. Eventually Jason Bargwanna held off Paul Radisich in the closest race finish in the event's history, and in doing so won his second consecutive Winton round. In the 2003 event, Greg Murphy was given a controversial drive-through penalty. Craig Lowndes lost the rear of his car going through the fast turn five and, as he applied the brakes to try to regain control, was hit by Murphy. The penalty was criticised by television commentator Neil Crompton and Lowndes said that Murphy "had been treated harshly".

There was more controversy in 2004, when Cameron McConville passed Rick Kelly for the lead at the penultimate corner on the final lap. Brad Jones' car was stopped on the straight before the corner, with yellow flags being displayed and passing being disallowed as a result. Kelly was animated after the race, claiming that McConville had passed him in the yellow flag zone, but it was found that the pass had been made just as the two cars left the yellow flag zone and McConville kept the victory. The race dropped from the calendar in 2005 and would only return in 2006 as a late replacement for the cancelled V8 Supercars China Round. In wet conditions in 2007, Jamie Whincup moved from 20th on the grid to win the first race of the weekend, going on to win the round and breaking the then-record for the lowest starting position to win a round. The 2009 event saw the introduction of the Dunlop soft tyre, the first time that the tyre company had provided two different slick tyre compounds since becoming the control tyre supplier in 2002.

The 2013 and 2014 events saw some success for Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volvo, the manufacturers which had entered the series under, what was then known as, the Car of the Future V8 Supercar rules in those two seasons. Trialling a new blend of fuel, James Moffat, driving a Kelly Racing Nissan Altima L33, took his first career victory in the first race of the 2013 event, while Lee Holdsworth gave Mercedes-Benz its first Supercars race win in the second race of the 2014 event. Scott McLaughin took his first career pole position driving a Volvo S60 in 2014. Chaz Mostert crashed out of a comfortable lead in the 2015 event, gifting team-mate Mark Winterbottom with victory. In 2016, Tim Slade took his first two career race wins to win the event, also giving local team Brad Jones Racing their first event win at the circuit. In 2018, Rick Kelly won the Saturday race only days after Nissan announced they would be withdrawing their factory support of both Kelly Racing and the championship at the end of the season. The 2020 event was postponed three weeks before being held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was later cancelled altogether. Its date was replaced by an additional event at Sydney Motorsport Park. The 2021 event was then postponed only two days prior to the event after another COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria, before later being once again cancelled altogether.

Winners

Year Driver Team Car Report 1985 Jim Richards JPS Team BMW BMW 635CSi 1986 Jim Richards JPS Team BMW BMW 635CSi 1987not held 1988 John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford Sierra RS500 1989 George Fury Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 1990 Jim Richards Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R 1991 Jim Richards Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 1992 Mark Skaife Gibson Motorsport Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R 1993 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EB Falcon 1994 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford EB Falcon Report 1995 John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford EF Falcon 1996not held 1997 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden VS Commodore 1998 John Bowe Dick Johnson Racing Ford EL Falcon 1999 Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VT Commodore 2000 Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VT Commodore 2001 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden VX Commodore Report 2002 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden VX Commodore 2003 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford BA Falcon 2004 Cameron McConville Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VY Commodore 2005not held 2006 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BA Falcon Report 2007 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BF Falcon Report 2008 Garth Tander Holden Racing Team Holden VE Commodore Report 2009 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford FG Falcon Report 2010 James Courtney Dick Johnson Racing Ford FG Falcon Report 2011 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VE Commodore Report 2012 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VE Commodore Report 2013 James Courtney Holden Racing Team Holden VF Commodore 2014 Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon Report 2015 Mark Winterbottom Prodrive Racing Australia Ford FG X Falcon Report 2016 Tim Slade Brad Jones Racing Holden VF Commodore Report 2017 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore Report 2018 Fabian Coulthard DJR Team Penske Ford FG X Falcon Report 2019 Scott McLaughlin DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang GT Report 2020–2021 not held due to COVID-19 pandemic 2022 Cam Waters Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT Report

Multiple winners By driver Wins Driver Years 4 Jim Richards 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991 3 John Bowe 1988, 1995, 1998 Craig Lowndes 2006, 2009, 2012 Jamie Whincup 2007, 2011, 2017 2 Glenn Seton 1993, 1994 Jason Bargwanna 1999, 2000 Russell Ingall 1997, 2001 James Courtney 2010, 2013 Mark Winterbottom 2014, 2015

By team Wins Team 6 Triple Eight Race Engineering DJR Team Penske 4 Gibson Motorsport 3 Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Racing Team Tickford Racing 2 JPS Team BMW Glenn Seton Racing Perkins Engineering

By manufacturer Wins Manufacturer 15 Ford 12 Holden 4 Nissan 2 BMW

Notes – DJR Team Penske was known as Dick Johnson Racing from 1980 to 2014, hence their statistics are combined. – Tickford Racing was known as Ford Performance Racing from 2003 to 2014 and as Prodrive Racing Australia from 2015 to 2017, hence their statistics are combined.

Event names and sponsors 1985, 1988–95, 1997–2004, 2006–10, 2012: Winton 1986: Lusty-Allison Winton Roundup 2011: Winton 300 2013: Winton 360 2014: Winton 400 2015: NP300 Navara Winton Super Sprint 2016: Woodstock Winton SuperSprint 2017–18: Winton SuperSprint 2019: Truck Assist Winton SuperSprint 2022: Pizza Hut Winton SuperSprint

See also List of Australian Touring Car Championship races

References