Fast Facts: Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400
1. Red Bull Racing Australia's Jamie Whincup is facing the very real prospect of becoming the first six-time Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Champion at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400.
The Holden driver is in sparkling form, finishing in the top seven in the last 18 races in a row with eight wins and a total of 12 podium results in that time.He holds a 402-point advantage over Mark Winterbottom coming into the round and will become champion elect if he can extend that margin to 450 points or more come the end of Races 33 and 34 on Saturday afternoon.
Whincup would set himself apart from five-time champions Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife in the record books and equal Geoghegan as the only man to win four championships in a row.
2. Jack Daniel's Racing Nissan pilot Todd Kelly will make his 200th ATCC/V8SC round start at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 and will become just the 11th driver in Championship history to achieve the feat.
The 35-year-old debuted at Eastern Creek in 1999 and has racked up 19 race wins, six pole positions and 28 podium finishes in his time in the Championship.Kelly won the 2006 Phillip Island round for the Holden Racing Team (with two race victories) and finished overall runner-up there in 2002 (with Kmart Racing) and 2007 (in his final appearance with HRT).
3. Ford's ARMOR ALL Pole Position drought continues and now sits at 12 months.
A total of 36 races have passed since Mark Winterbottom claimed the last 'blue oval' V8 Supercar Championship pole position at Phillip Island last November.
The last time a Ford failed to take a pole position in an ATCC/V8SC season was back in 1986.
4. Just as the Gold Coast has been dominated by Triple Eight Race Engineering, Ford Performance Racing and Walkinshaw Racing in recent times, so too has Phillip Island.
The three dominant teams of the championship have won the last 17 races between them at Phillip Island from 2006 onwards - eight to WR, six to Triple Eight and three to FPR.
The last team outside these three to claim victory at the circuit was Stone Brothers Racing with Marcos Ambrose in 2005.
5. Volvo pilot Scott McLaughlin is locked in a battle with Jamie Whincup for the ARMOR ALL Pole Award and is trying to stop Whincup from claiming his sixth pole position award from the last seven years.
The two are tied with eight poles each and six more remaining to be claimed at Phillip Island and Sydney Olympic Park.
Whincup has claimed four pole positions at Phillip Island however McLaughlin has only competed there once in his short but impressive V8 Supercar Championship career.
No manufacturer outside Ford and Holden has ever taken an ATCC/V8SC pole position at Phillip Island.
6. Craig Lowndes could break Mark Skaife's record for most race wins in ATCC/V8SC history at Phillip Island this year.
The former teammates are tied with nine race wins apiece at the venue coming into this year's event. They paired up to win the 2010 and 2011 Phillip Island 500 endurance races for Triple Eight Race Engineering.
7. The Holden Racing Team's James Courtney is keen to erase the nightmare of his trip to Philip Island last year that left him with a leg injury and a destroyed car after a massive collision with Alex Premat.
Courtney has never claimed a podium finish at Phillip Island - let alone won a race there - with a best finish of fourth. He's also never qualified on the front row with a best of third in 2008 and then again in 2010.
No HRT driver has claimed pole position at Phillip Island since Todd Kelly in 2006.
8. Three drivers - Tony D'Alberto, Alex Premat and Dean Fiore - claimed their first V8 Supercar Championship podium finish at the Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600, bringing the total number of drivers in ATCC/V8SC history to have achieved a podium result to 141.
There are four drivers in the current full-time V8 Supercar field - Scott Pye, David Wall, Jack Perkins and Robert Dahlgren - still looking for their first podium finish.
9. Starting on pole position at Phillip Island is no guarantee that a driver will win a race.
The driver starting on pole has won just two of the last 12 V8 Supercar races at the circuit.
The lowest grid position for a race winner in ATCC/V8SC history at Phillip Island is 10th - Garth Tander and Mark Skaife won the 2008 Phillip Island 500 from there for the Holden Racing Team.
Last year's Phillip Island race winners - Tander, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup - started third, eighth and fifth respectively.
10. Swedish Volvo pilot Robert Dahlgren is the only driver in the field making his first appearance at Phillip Island in a V8 Supercar.
Both Dale Wood and Nick Percat have experience at the venue in the V8 Supercar Championship, however both are competing there for the first time as primary drivers in a single driver round - both have competed previously as co-drivers in the 500-kilometre endurance race held at the circuit between 2008 and 2011.
Tickets are still available for this weekend's Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400.
