The link between the most successful Commodores

Holden's Commodore will have its last dance in Adelaide, a city the brand holds dear.

The 2022 Repco Supercars Championship will conclude at next month's VALO Adelaide 500.

The Commodore will be replaced by the Chevrolet Camaro in 2023.

Holden’s flagship model won its first race at the hands of Peter Brock in 1980.

In the 42 years since, Commodores have accounted for 564 of Holden’s 615 ATCC/Supercars wins.

The most successful Commodore models are the VF (2013-17), VE/VE II (2007-12) and the current ZB (2018-present).

All three Commodores models won on the debut, and all wins came in Adelaide.

VE/VE II Commodore (2007-12, 103 wins in 184 starts)

First win: Todd Kelly, Adelaide 2007

Kelly with the very first VE Supercar

Holden debuted its aggressive new VE Commodore in the championship in 2007.

The VE dominated from the outset, winning 25 races to the 12 of Ford’s new Falcon BF.

Todd Kelly and the Holden Racing Team opened the VE’s account in Adelaide (see main picture).

Kelly, the 2005 Bathurst winner, held off pole sitter James Courtney throughout the second half of the race.

Courtney, a future HRT race winner, was able to keep up with and pressure Kelly.

The VE won the title at its first attempt courtesy of HSV Dealer Team’s Garth Tander, who won 15 races.

Tander would record the VE’s first Bathurst win in 2009, also for HRT.

The model wouldn’t win a title again until Jamie Whincup in 2011, who backed it up in 2012.

By 2011, the Supercar had been updated in line with the debut of the Series II VE.

The VE II went unbeaten in championships and at Mount Panorama, Tander winning in 2011 before Whincup did the Bathurst-title double in 2012.

VF Commodore (2013-17, 108 wins in 165 starts)

First win: Craig Lowndes, Adelaide 2013

Lowndes left the field for dead in 2013

The arrival of the Car of the Future (Gen2) era began with aplomb for Holden’s new VF Commodore.

The VF won 16 of the first 17 races in 2013, with Craig Lowndes crushing the field in the Adelaide season-opener.

Lowndes cantered to victory by over 20 seconds, with Shane van Gisbergen backing it up on the Sunday for Tekno Autosports.

The VF will go down as the most successful ATCC/Supercars model with a staggering 108 wins in 165 starts — a win rate of 65 per cent.

The VF won four titles in five years, and three Bathurst 1000s.

The VF’s final win resulted in a record-extending seventh title for Whincup on the streets of Newcastle in 2017.

ZB Commodore (2018-present, 85 wins in 151 starts)

First win: Shane van Gisbergen, Adelaide 2018

Van Gisbergen wins in 2018

Come 2018, and the ZB — what will prove Holden’s final Commodore Supercar — arrived.

Van Gisbergen swept the 2018 Adelaide 500 to open the ZB’s account in crushing style.

In fact, the ZB won seven of its first eight races, and the Bathurst 1000 courtesy of Lowndes and Steven Richards.

The ZB won four of its five Bathurst 1000s, two courtesy of van Gisbergen and Tander (2020 and 2022).

However, the ZB would have to wait until van Gisbergen in 2021 to win its first championship.

Van Gisbergen won consecutive titles in 2021 and 2022, with his chassis also becoming the most successful of all time.

To date, van Gisbergen’s chassis — 888A-054 — has won a whopping 39 races since its debut in 2020.

The car — nicknamed ‘Chastitii' — has two Bathurst wins and two championships to its name.

Chastitii overtook Whincup’s 2012 Commodore — the VE II nicknamed ‘Kate’ — to be the most successful single chassis.

Holden wins by model

108: VF Commodore
103: VE Commodore
85: ZB Commodore
63: VT Commodore
45: VX Commodore
37: VZ Commodore
35: VS Commodore
27: VR Commodore
23: VY Commodore
17: Torana L34, Torana A9X, VP Commodore
8: VH Commodore
7: VB Commodore
6: Torana XU-1
4: HT Monaro, VC Commodore
2: HK Monaro, Torana SL/R5000, Torana LX SS, VK Commodore
1: VN Commodore

Holden wins by driver

91: Jamie Whincup
85: Craig Lowndes
80: Mark Skaife
73: Shane van Gisbergen
57: Garth Tander
46: Peter Brock
28: Greg Murphy
21: Russell Ingall
19: Todd Kelly
14: Jason Bright
12: Allan Grice, Rick Kelly
8: Bob Morris, Larry Perkins
7: Jason Bargwanna, James Courtney, Chaz Mostert
6: Norm Beechey, Colin Bond, Will Davison, Paul Dumbrell, Steven Richards
5: Fabian Coulthard
4: Jim Richards, David Reynolds, Nick Percat
3: Warren Luff, Jonathan Webb, Lee Holdsworth
2: John Harvey, Wayne Gardner Paul Morris, Tony Longhurst, Cameron McConville, Scott McLaughlin, Sebastien Bourdais, Tim Slade
1: Charlie O’Brien, Dean Canto, Ian Geoghegan, Jack Perkins, Jason Richards, Michael Caruso, Steve Owen, Alex Premat, Luke Youlden, Scott Pye, Anton De Pasquale, Will Brown

Holden milestone victories

1: Norm Beechey, Holden HK Monaro GTS 327, Surfers Paradise, 31 August, 1969
100: Craig Lowndes, VR Commodore, Tasmania, 17 March 1996
200: Todd Kelly, VT Commodore, Canberra, 11 June 2000
300: Mark Skaife, VZ Commodore, Pukekohe, 23 April 2006
400: Jamie Whincup, VE II Commodore, Tasmania, 13 November 2011
450: Shane van Gisbergen, VF Commodore, Homebush, 8 December 2013
500: Shane van Gisbergen, VF Commodore, Symmons Plains, 2 April 2016
550: Shane van Gisbergen, ZB Commodore, Townsville, 7 July 2019
600: Shane van Gisbergen, ZB Commodore, Perth, 30 April 2022