10 Fast Facts: Beaurepaires Melbourne 400
1) This year marks the 25th time that Supercars have competed at Albert Park, including the appearance at the 2020 event which was abandoned due COVID-19 after qualifying sessions had taken place. The category has been a part of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix every year that it has been held in Melbourne since 1996 except for one: 2007.
2) Teams will be greeted by a revised track layout for the 2022 event with the former Turn 9/10 chicane complex removed and other corners widened, moves that shorten the lap length by 24 metres to 5.279 kilometres. As such, no lap records exist yet for this new layout, which is expected to be faster than the old version of the circuit. For comparison, the qualifying lap record on the original layout is 1m53.8280s set by Scott McLaughlin in 2019, while the race lap record is 1m55.7280s set by Chaz Mostert in the same year.
3) The driver who scores the most points over the weekend at Albert Park will earn The Larry Perkins Perpetual Trophy, named in honour of the Supercars Hall of Famer and ex-Formula 1 driver. Perkins started 11 F1 Grands Prix in 1976 and 1977 for Amon, Brabham, BRM and Surtees and competed at Albert Park in Supercars between 1996 and 2002, while his Supercars team won nine races at Albert Park via drivers Russell Ingall (seven across 1997-98) and Steve Richards (two in 2006).
4) James Courtney is on track to celebrate a major career milestone at the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400. The 2010 series champion is scheduled to start his 500th Repco Supercars Championship race in the first race of the weekend. Courtney made his debut at the 2005 Sandown 500 and he will become just the ninth driver in championship history to reach the milestone.
5) A total of 76 Supercars races have been held at Albert Park. Russell Ingall holds the record of most race wins - eight - but that is under threat this year from two current drivers in Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom, who each have seven Albert Park race wins.
6) There are just six drivers in the field of 25 that have previously won in Supercars at Albert Park: Mark Winterbottom, James Courtney, Shane van Gisbergen, Chaz Mostert, Scott Pye and David Reynolds, the latter two the most recent additions to the roll of honour in 2018.
7) Five different drivers have taken the first five ARMOR ALL Pole Positions of the season – it’s the first time in the history of the ATCC/ Supercars Championship that this has happened. In fact, seven different drivers have taken the last seven poles dating back to Nick Percat at Sydney Motorsport Park last year. The last time a streak like this happened was from the final round of 2015 to the third round of 2016 when there were eight different polesitters in a row.
8) Only two drivers have qualified in the top 10 for all five races held so far in the 2022 championship: Will Davison and Broc Feeney.
9) The record for the smallest race-winning margin has stood since the first Supercars race at the circuit in 1996, when Glenn Seton beat home Peter Brock by just 0.184-seconds. The biggest race-winning margin is 10.9936s in Race 3 in 2011 when Jamie Whincup beat home Greg Murphy.
10) There have been three red flags in Supercars’ history of racing at Albert Park. A multi-car crash on the opening lap of Race 1 in 1997 prompted a full restart over a shortened distance. In 2003, the wet Race 3 was halted after an accident and not restarted; the race was declared ‘no result’ as only 2 of 6 laps had been completed. The most recent instance was in 2012, when Race 2 was stopped due to a multi-car crash on the first lap.
