Fast Facts: Repco Mt Panorama 500

1) The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship marks the 62nd season of the Australian Touring Car Championship, first held at the Gnoo Blas road circuit near Orange, NSW in 1960. Initially contested over a single race, the championship has been determined over a series of races since 1969.

2) The Repco Mt Panorama 500 marks the 29th time that the championship has held an event at the Bathurst, NSW circuit, but the first time that the vaunted venue has held the opening round of the season. It also marks the first single-driver championship race held at Mount Panorama since 1996.

3) It has been 50 years since a circuit hosted the last round of one ATCC/Supercars Championship season then the first of the following season. The last time this happened was when Symmons Plains in Tasmania hosted the 1970 decider and 1971 opener.

4) Tickford Racing reaches a major milestone at the opening round of the 2021 season. The Repco Mt Panorama 500 marks the team's 250th championship round start. Originally known as Ford Performance Racing, the team made its Repco Supercars Championship debut in Adelaide in 2003.

5) The Repco Mt Panorama 500 also marks a major milestone in the Repco Supercars Championship career of Scott Pye. The DEWALT Racing driver will start his 250th championship race in Race 1 of the 2021 season. Pye made his debut as a co-driver at the 2012 Sandown 500.

6) Jamie Whincup begins his final year as a full-time driver in the Repco Supercars Championship heading to a circuit that has delivered him plenty of success – but not recently. Although he has four race victories, two ARMOR ALL Pole Positions and seven podium finishes across his career at the Repco Bathurst 1000, Whincup has not stood on a Mount Panorama Supercars Championship race podium since finishing second with Paul Dumbrell in the 2013 edition of the 'Great Race'.

7) Seven of the drivers in the 2021 field have scored Repco Supercars Championship race victories at Mount Panorama, all of them in the Repco Bathurst 1000. Whincup heads the list with four, followed by the Shell V-Power Racing Team's Will Davison on two, with Nick Percat, Mark Winterbottom, Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds and reigning Repco Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen on one apiece.

8) We're destined for a new ARMOR ALL Pole Champion Award winner in 2021 with the departure of Scott McLaughlin, who claimed the title for the past four years running. Whincup and teammate Shane van Gisbergen are the leading contenders to secure this year's award; the Red Bull Ampol Racing duo claimed six and three poles respectively last year, while no other driver on the 2021 grid scored more than one.

9) Ford has a stranglehold on ARMOR ALL Pole Positions at Mount Panorama when it comes to single-driver sprint events. Of the six rounds held between 1966 and 1996, Ford Mustangs claimed pole for the first four (Ian Geoghegan 1966, 1969, 1970; Allan Moffat 1972) while John Bowe took both poles in 1995 and 1996 aboard a Ford Falcon.

10) The full-time retirement of Rick Kelly leaves Whincup as the most experienced driver on the Repco Supercars Championship grid in 2021 with 240 round starts to his name. In contrast, Erebus Motorsport's new driver line-up of full-time rookies Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki has just 11 rounds of combined experience between them, while Matt Stone Racing's fellow full-time rookie line-up of Jake Kostecki and Zane Goddard have 15 round starts between them.

Cars will hit the track on Friday for opening practice of the Repco Mt Panorama 500. Tickets are on sale now.

This weekend’s event will be broadcast live on Foxtel and the Seven Network, and will be streamed on Kayo. Check out the full TV schedule here.