How Darwin Triple Crown became so hard to win

07 Jun 2023

The Triple Crown has been won just twice in 17 attempts

4 mins by James Pavey

Marcos Ambrose

Fabian Coulthard

Larry Perkins

...

As far as Supercars honours come, the Darwin Triple Crown has proven one of the most elusive.

Introduced in 2006, the Triple Crown is awarded to the driver who wins all three sprint races at Hidden Valley.

Under the three-race format, no driver has ever won the Triple Crown, which has added more weight and pressure to the Darwin round since it was introduced in 2006.

Before 2006, on six occasions in eight rounds between 1998 and 2005, drivers took out two legs.

In the 17 years since, drivers have taken two legs just six times, and only Scott McLaughlin in 2019 completed the triple.

The trophy has been awarded just twice in 17 attempts, first to McLaughlin in 2019, and Jamie Whincup in 2020.

Whincup claimed round honours in 2020

When McLaughlin won, the Triple Crown represented winning both races and topping Sunday's ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout.

The Shell V-Power Ford star swept the weekend, claiming both poles and both wins, to end Supercars’ Triple Crown hoodoo.

In 2020, the Triple Crown trophy was awarded to the driver that scored the most points across the weekend.

That was Whincup, who won on count back after being tied on points for the weekend with Fabian Coulthard.

Whincup won the final race of the three-race weekend, with wins also going to Anton De Pasquale and McLaughlin.

The Triple Crown format reverted back to the three-race format in 2021, but it has been elusive since.

Could anyone have won the Crown before it was introduced in 2006?

Skaife won the first two races in 2002

The short answer is no — but several drivers went very close, right from the first Darwin round in 1998.

Darwin rounds were headlined by three races between 1998 and 2008, between 2013 and 2015, and from 2020 onwards.

The 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 rounds featured two races.

Russell Ingall won two races at the 1998 and 1999 events, falling one short of the hat trick.

Ingall, then racing for Larry Perkins, was 12th in the opening sprint in 1998 before making the most of a Craig Lowndes DNS to win the next two.

Ingall (1999), Mark Skaife (2000) and Todd Kelly (2005) all won the first two races of the round, but failed to claim the sweep.

Skaife (2002) and Marcos Ambrose (2003) won the last two, and only just missed the sweep by finishing second in the first race.

Who has come closest since the Triple Crown was introduced

Two of three wins for SVG in 2021

McLaughlin and Whincup may have won the Crown once each, but they could have had two to their names.

Whincup won the first two races of the 2014 event, but settled for third behind Mark Winterbottom and Shane van Gisbergen in the finale.

McLaughlin, meanwhile, won the 2017 Sunday race from pole — two of three Crown legs — but was out of action before the day began after finishing second in the Saturday race.

Van Gisbergen did the same a year earlier, winning the Sunday race from pole after finishing a lowly 16th in the Saturday race.

Lowndes was the only driver between 2006 and 2013 to win two legs of the Crown, when he won both Sunday sprints.

Lowndes finished third in the first 2007 sprint behind Skaife, before dominating both Sunday races.

Most recently, van Gisbergen won both Sunday races in 2021. He was on course for a strong result on Saturday, only to tumble down to 13th after a wheel nut issue in his stop.

Van Gisbergen is one of five different winners in the last seven Darwin races, along with McLaughlin, Chaz Mostert, Anton De Pasquale and Cam Waters,

Will a driver sweep all three races and become the third Triple Crown winner? Find out at the betr Darwin Triple Crown on June 16-18.

Tickets are on sale now.

Darwin Triple Crown winners*

2019: Scott McLaughlin (Sunday pole, 2 wins)2020: Jamie Whincup (round winner)**

Closest to the Darwin Triple Crown*

1998: Russell Ingall (2 wins)1999: Russell Ingall (2 wins)2000: Mark Skaife (2 wins)2002: Mark Skaife (2 wins)2003: Marcos Ambrose (2 wins)2005: Todd Kelly (2 wins)2007: Craig Lowndes (2 wins)2014: Jamie Whincup (2 wins)2016: Shane van Gisbergen (Sunday pole and win)***2017: Scott McLaughlin (Sunday pole and win)***2021: Shane van Gisbergen (2 wins)