Champ's playground: how Darwin has moulded title winners

Of the 11 venues on the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship calendar, Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway holds a unique status.

The Darwin circuit made its championship debut in 1998, and following last year's doubleheader, has hosted 24 events.

Since 1998, no other active circuit has seen more race winners go on to win the title.

In 24 Darwin events, 14 times has a winner on the weekend gone on to become champion by season’s end.

WATCH: NINE SEARING DARWIN MOMENTS

Long story short, if you win at Darwin, you have a higher chance of becoming champion.

1998 champion Craig Lowndes won the very first race in Darwin, with Mark Skaife winning in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 events.

After Marcos Ambrose added to his 2001 round win with a race win in 2003, Darwin went five years without a round which featured the eventual champion.

From there, however, Darwin has shaped as a champion’s playground; in 13 events in Darwin between 2009 and 2020, a winner has gone on to become champion nine times.

Current series leader Shane van Gisbergen, who won in Darwin from 12th in 2011, also won at Hidden Valley in 2016 en route to the title.

Van Gisbergen won in 2016

Darwin’s race winner to champion percentage is 58 per cent, but it tops the list of the active circuits as it has hosted more events than any other circuit since 1998.

Hidden Valley is matched by Sydney Motorsport Park on percentage terms, but has hosted five fewer events since 1998.

Likewise with The Bend Motorsport Park, which made its debut in 2018. In four events, eventual champions have won on three occasions. Last year, Scott McLaughlin clinched the title at the South Australian circuit.

Since it became a championship event in 1999, only five times has a Bathurst race winner gone on to become champion. Scott McLaughlin most recently achieved the feat in 2019.

McLaughlin wins the Triple Crown in 2019

Townsville, which will host the NTI Townsville 500 next month, boasts the highest percentage of race winners to champions with 77 per cent.

A Townsville winner has gone on to win the title 10 times in 13 events. Only in 2010, 2013 and 2018 did Townsville winners fail to win the title.

The only season to feature all 11 active venues, 2018, saw McLaughlin win in the Top End, Perth and New Zealand.

Perth has hosted 21 events since 1998 for 12 title-winning drivers.

The Repco Supercars Championship field will return to the Northern Territory this weekend for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. Tickets are available here.

The event will be broadcast live on Foxtel and will be streamed on Kayo, and will be broadcast live and free on Seven.

Eventual title winners/championship events hosted since 1998 (of 2021 circuits)

Darwin: 14/24 (58%)Perth: 12/21 (57%)Sydney Motorsport Park: 11/19 (58%)Townsville: 10/13 (77%)Tasmania: 10/18 (55%)Sandown: 10/22 (45%)Pukekohe: 8/14 (57%)Winton: 8/20 (40%)Gold Coast: 7/18 (39%)Tailem Bend: 3/4 (75%)Bathurst: 5/22 (21%)