10 Fast Facts: Coates Hire Ipswich 360
1. Craig Lowndes should start as hot favourite for the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 if recent history at Queensland Raceway is any guide.
The three-time V8 Supercars Champion has won the last five races straight in Ipswich, clean-sweeping three races in 2011 and another two last year.
He’s finished in the top two in seven of the last eight races at QR since 2009 and has 11 career race wins at the circuit – more than any other driver.
Both Lowndes and his Red Bull Racing Australia squad will need to fight back from a poor Townsville, where the team went the entire weekend without scoring a podium finish.
The last time this occurred was at Sydney Olympic Park in the Championship finale of 2010.
2. On the flip side, Lowndes’ teammate Jamie Whincup is winless from the last eight races at Queensland Raceway since Saturday in 2009.
The Championship leader has still scored four podium finishes over that period, however has just one career race win to his name at the Ipswich circuit.
Whincup has not qualified inside the top four for the last four consecutive races this year in Townsville and Darwin – the last time this occurred for him was in 2006 when he qualified fifth, 10th, seventh and 12th at the Gold Coast, Symmons Plains, Bahrain and Phillip Island.
3. The 60/60 Super Sprint format returns at Queensland Raceway with the Saturday race to be held over a pair of 20 lap halves.
So far there have been three 60/60 races in 2013 and the wins have been shared between Fabian Coulthard (Symmons Plains), Craig Lowndes (Barbagallo) and Jamie Whincup (Hidden Valley).
However, no driver that has led at ‘half time’ has been able to go on and win the race. Whincup led at half time at both Symmons Plains and Barbagallo, while David Reynolds led into the break at Hidden Valley.
4. The Holden Racing Team broke a winning drought of 58 races in Townsville with a one-two finish for Garth Tander and James Courtney, but now they will have to overcome some woeful recent form at Queensland Raceway.
Both drivers have failed to qualify in the top 10 at QR for the past two years – Tander’s average qualifying position is 20.25 and Courtney’s is 20.5.
Of the five races held at QR in 2011 and 2012, only Tander has been able to manage a top 10 race finish for HRT – a sixth place on Sunday in 2011.
5. At the Sucrogen Townsville 400, Pepsi Max Crew FPR driver Mark Winterbottom scored more points than any other driver in North Queensland. It was the first time this season a Falcon driver has scored the most points at a V8 Supercars Championship event.
Winterbottom finished second in both races at Queensland Raceway last year, though is winless at the Ipswich circuit since claiming two victories in 2008.
6. Just three drivers have competed in every V8 Supercars Championship event held at Queensland Raceway since the first in 1999.
Garth Tander, Russell Ingall and Craig Lowndes have competed in all 16 events, while Todd Kelly has only missed one – the sprint event in 2000.
There were two Championship events held at Queensland Raceway in 1999 and 2000 – one a sprint and the other the pre-Bathurst, 500-kilometre endurance race.
7. Five drivers are making their first V8 Supercars Championship start at Queensland Raceway, though most of them have experience in the Dunlop Series at the circuit.
The top three finishers from last year’s DVS round in Ipswich – Chaz Mostert, Scott Pye and Scott McLaughlin respectively – are all on the grid for this year’s ‘main game’ event.
Tim Blanchard has competed at Queensland Raceway in the DVS for the last three years (with a best finish of fourth overall in 2010), while Maro Engel may not have raced at the circuit yet but has brief experience of it given it’s his home test track with SP Tools Racing.
8. Speaking of Chaz Mostert, the Wilson Security Racing pilot has impressed in his debut year in the V8 Supercars Championship.
Since debuting at Barbagallo in May, Mostert has scored the 12th-most points of any driver in the Championship over the period – more than the likes of Scott McLaughlin, Rick Kelly, James Moffat and Alex Davison.
Mostert has also out-qualified teammate Tim Blanchard 12-0 head-to-head with a best race finish of seventh at Hidden Valley and a best qualifying performance of 10th in Perth.
9. The likelihood of the Pedders STP Chrysler Safety Car appearing at the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 is relatively low compared to other circuits. The Safety Car has appeared in just 16 of 31 races (51.61 percent) at Queensland Raceway.
The last time an event at QR went without the Safety Car appearing at all was 2009; the last time the Safety Car appeared in each race on a single weekend was 2006.
10. Round Four of the Dunlop Series will be held at Queensland Raceway with Dale Wood holding a 56-point advantage over Ipswich local Ash Walsh. Wood has finished on the podium in the last five Dunlop Series rounds – the last two of 2012 and the first three of 2013.
However, he is yet to record a round win in the development category and now holds the record for most podium results without a round win in the DVS – seven.
A total of 32 cars have entered for the round, the biggest Dunlop Series field at QR since 2007.
Tickets are available for the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 through Ticketek.
