Fast Facts: Beaurepaires Melbourne 400

1. The Australian Touring Car Championship/Virgin Australia Supercars Championship celebrates a major milestone at Albert Park, with the 1000th championship race taking place over the weekend.

The second race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400, Race 4 of the 2019 season, will be the 1000th race since the championship began in 1960.

2. This year marks the 23rd time that Supercars have raced at Albert Park. The category has been a part of the Grand Prix in Melbourne every year since it began in 1996 except for one - 2007.

Glenn Seton beat home the late Peter Brock to win the very first race in ’96 by just 0.184-seconds, a mark that remains the closest Supercars finish at Albert Park.

3. A total of 72 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.

4. The driver with the most points over the weekend at Albert Park will receive 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).

5. Two teams will celebrate milestones of their own within the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's 1000th race at Albert Park.

Erebus Motorsport and Team 18 will each start their 200th race in the second race of the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400. Both teams made their championship debuts at the 2013 Clipsal 500 Adelaide.

6. There are nine drivers in the field of 24 that have previously won in Supercars at Albert Park - Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom, Fabian Coulthard, Scott McLaughlin, James Courtney, Chaz Mostert, Shane van Gisbergen, Scott Pye and David Reynolds, the latter two adding their names to the tally last year.

7. Four different drivers won each of the four races at last year's Melbourne 400, a feat that has only occurred four times at Albert Park.

It is also rare for one driver to sweep every race of the weekend at Albert Park with Russell Ingall (1997 and 1998), Garth Tander (2008) and Mark Winterbottom (2015) the only drivers to do so.

8. The most successful team in the history of Supercars at Albert Park is Mobil 1 MEGA Racing, formerly known as the Holden Racing Team.

It’s won a total of 20 Albert Park Supercars races (28 percent), Scott Pye adding to the tally with his maiden championship race victory in 2018.

9. The biggest race-winning margin in a Supercars race at Albert Park is 10.9936s in Race 3 in 2011 when Jamie Whincup beat home Greg Murphy.

10. Rookies Garry Jacobson and Macauley Jones will each be tackling Albert Park in a Supercar for the first time, but it won't be their first races at the circuit.

Jacobson competed in support races for Aussie Racing Cars in 2009 and Formula Ford in 2010 and 2012, while Jones made his Australian Formula Ford Championship debut at the event in 2012.