250 and counting: Triple Eight to bring up big milestone

Triple Eight Race Engineering will register a major milestone at this weekend’s ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight.

Currently racing under the Red Bull Ampol Racing banner, Triple Eight will bring up 250 championship round appearances.

The championship-winning team is fifth all-time among active teams; Dick Johnson Racing leads the way with 471 round starts.

Walkinshaw Andretti United - which campaigned as the Holden Racing Team between 1990 and 2016 - has made 388 starts.

Brad Jones Racing, which debuted in 2000, has made 296 starts, with Tickford Racing on 257.

Tickford, which debuted under the Ford Performance Racing banner, made its maiden championship start in 2003.

Tickford brought up 250 round starts at the season-opening Repco Mt Panorama 500.

December’s Repco Bathurst 1000 will be BJR’s 300th round start.

Triple Eight made its debut at Sandown in 2003

Triple Eight made its debut towards the end of the 2003 season after Roland Dane and his business partners bought out Briggs Motor Sport.

The team’s first official start came at the 2003 Sandown 500; there, Paul Radisich dropped the #65 Betta Electrical Falcon on provisional pole.

Triple Eight first won on its 22nd round start (Eastern Creek, 2005), won Bathurst on its 40th round start (2006) and became drivers’ and teams’ champions on its 72nd round start (Oran Park, 2008).

The team won on its 50th round start (Darwin, 2007), 150th (Townsville, 2014) and 200th (Adelaide, 2018).

The first of eight Bathurst wins came in 2006

Its 100th round start came on the streets of Sydney Olympic Park in 2010, where Jamie Whincup famously missed out on the title to James Courtney and DJR.

To this weekend’s event, the team has won eight drivers’ titles - including a record seven for Whincup - a record nine teams’ titles, 216 races and eight Bathurst 1000s.

Only the Holden Dealer Team (nine) has won more Great Races. WAU (182 race wins) and DJR (140) are behind Triple Eight on the race wins leaderboard.

Whincup has won all 123 races with Triple Eight. Craig Lowndes won 57, with current series leader Shane van Gisbergen on 41.

The team's last drivers' title came in 2017

Only DJR (10 drivers’ championships) have won more drivers’ titles.

Triple Eight won 51 races in Fords between 2005 and 2009, and has won a record 165 races in Holdens.

The title tallies are likely to grow in 2021; van Gisbergen leads the drivers' standings by 338 points, and Red Bull Ampol Racing is 872 points ahead of the Shell V-Power Racing Team.

Tickets for the three upcoming Sydney events are on sale now.