Fast Facts - Clipsal 500 Adelaide

26 Feb 2017

The stats and facts you need to know ahead of the Clipsal 500

3 mins by James Pavey

2017

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1. The traditional format of the Clipsal 500 returns in 2017 with a pair of 250-kilometre races to be held, one on Saturday and another on Sunday. It’s the first time since 2013 that this race format has been used.

Something new though for this year’s event is the fact there will be two Top 10 Shootouts – one determines the ARMOR ALL Pole Position for the Saturday race and the other for Sunday.

2. Defending Clipsal 500 winners Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport rack up a milestone in Adelaide. The team will start its 100th Virgin Australia Supercars Championship round in South Australia, site of its maiden race win last year with Nick Percat driving.

LDM made its championship debut in Abu Dhabi at the start of 2010 and is entering its eighth year in Supercars.

3. Sixteen-year-old rookie Alex Rullo will drive for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport in Adelaide and become the youngest-ever driver to race in the 58-year history of the VASC (Australian Touring Car Championship).

He will slice 84 days off the existing record of Paul Dumbrell, who was also 16 when he debuted at Symmons Plains in Tasmania in 1999.

4. Supercheap Auto Racing’s Chaz Mostert will celebrate a milestone in Adelaide – his 50th round start. The 2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner made his championship debut at Barbagallo in 2013 driving a Dick Johnson Racing-run Falcon.

5. Holden has been the dominant force at the Clipsal 500 in recent years. Commodore drivers are undefeated since the New Generation cars were introduced in 2013 – a total of 11 race wins in a row have been shared between Triple Eight, Walkinshaw Racing, Brad Jones Racing, TEKNO Autosports and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

6. This year’s event is the 19th time the Adelaide Supercars event has been held since it debuted as the Sensational Adelaide 500 in 1999 (it has been known as the Clipsal 500 since 2000). This year is the 14th time the event has kicked off a new season.

7. Simona De Silvestro makes her full-time Supercars debut at the Clipsal 500, but she’s not the first female to compete in the event.

South Australian Kerryn Brewer drove in the inaugural event in 1999 in a Commodore – it was the last time she competed in the championship.

De Silvestro’s Nissan will carry #78 in Adelaide – it’s been 27 years since that number was last used by a car in a championship race (Geoff Full, Toyota Corolla, 1990 Oran Park).

8. Nine brand new cars will make their Supercars racing debut at the Clipsal 500 – three from Triple Eight (Red Bull HRT and TeamVortex), two from Garry Rogers Motorsport and singles from Prodrive, Erebus, Nissan and DJR Team Penske. Last year there were eight brand new shiny cars on the track for the Clipsal 500.

9. History shows that the Adelaide street track is always tough. No Clipsal 500 race has ever produced a 100 percent finishing rate, though it came close in 2010 when 27 of 28 starters finished the Sunday race.

10. Wilson Security GRM’s James Moffat will rack up a milestone in the Saturday race in Adelaide – his 200th Supercars Championship race.

The second-generation driver is entering his seventh season and he’ll become the first Moffat to race a Holden Commodore in an ATCC/Supercars Championship event. It also means he’ll have driven four types of cars in his championship career since it began in 2010 – Ford, Nissan, Volvo and Holden.