V8 Utes Fast Facts: ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600
1. The V8 Utes have raced at the Gold Coast nine times including 2001-03, 2005-07 and 2010-12.
2. The 2013 ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 and Round Seven of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by ARMOR All – will be the 100th Round of the Series.
3. Local driver Ryal Harris owned the lap record of the 4.47km track set in 2007 in his Holden VY with a time of 2min14.55, and set the first lap record on the new circuit in 2010 in a time of 1min27.609. Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher broke it in 2011 in Race One with a time of 1min26.42 and his Sieders Racing teammate David Sieders broke it again last year in Race Three, recording a 1min26.2513.
4. Reigning Champion Harris had a clean-sweep of the Gold Coast event in 2011, taking out the ARMOR ALL Pole Award and all three races. He won five races in a row that year after claiming races two and three at Bathurst.
5. Harris and Chris Pither are the only drivers rivaling 2009 V8 Ute Champion Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood as the most successful driver at the event. Elsegood has been on the podium there three times, having achieved first (2002) and second (2005 and '07). Harris has the highest number of race wins, having claimed four in total, one podium and a Pole Award. Pither has had three podiums and a race win.
Pither is the most consistent driver with three out of four possible podiums and David Sieders has two out of three podiums and two out of three ARMOR ALL Pole Awards under his belt.
6. Races One and Three will be televised live on Network Seven. Click here for the V8 Supercars TV coverage guide.
7. Ten drivers of the 32 car field are Queensland based.
Those in the Gold Coast include Ryal Harris, Rohan Barry, Jesse Dixon, Peter Burnitt and Cam Wilson; and in Brisbane, Ryan Hansford, Wayne Wakefield, Kris Walton, Stephen Wilson and Matt Nolan.
8. Ten of the 32 V8 Ute drivers have not raced on the Gold Coast circuit in a V8 Ute including Wayne Wakefield, Stephen White, Stephen Wilson, former AFL star Troy Wilson, John “Spud” Wood, Layton Barker and rookies Adam Marjoram, Elliot Barbour, Jesse Dixon and Matt Nolan.
9. Some familiar faces will return for the round, including Tasmania Layton Barker who has not appeared in the series since Bathurst last year and local Rohan Berry who annually competes in his home event.
Stephen Wilson will replace regular Phonsy Mullan in the #20 Holden, as Mullan has commitments with his Australian Jet Boating Series, which he is currently leading after claiming the last three rounds in a row.
10. V8 Supercar Development Series Driver George Miedecke will return to the Series, stepping in for two-time Bathurst winner Tony Longhurst in The Boat Works Holden.
The New South Welshman raced in the Auto One Wildcard last year in a one off appearance and in the V8 Ute Series from 2007 – 2009, before he moved to the United States to pursue a career as a NASCAR driver for Marcos Ambrose Motorsport.
Miedecke claimed various podiums in later model stock cars driving for Ambrose, and at the end of 2011 returned home to drive for Sonic Motorsport in the V8 Supercar Development Series. Last year he teamed up with 2011 V8 Ute Champion Chris Pither to drive in the New Zealand Super Tourer Enduro events and currently drives for Matt Stone Racing, ranked fifth at the moment in the Dunlop Development V8 Supercar Series.
11. In 2010 there was a spectacular accident at the back chicane where Brad Patton kissed the wall, which caused a chain reaction with Workhorse Collision Repairs driver Ben Kavich making contact with the Queensland-based driver, which turned them around. Kavich was then unlucky to receive a hit from the side from Kim Jane who had nowhere to go and ended the weekend for all three drivers.
In 2011 Patton’s Father in-law Peter Burnitt also made contact with the wall in the final race. The race finished under yellow flag due to the incident when he made a move on rookie Tim Boyle on the exit of the back chicane, turning himself around and straight into the wall in a spectacular crash. Burnitt was all right despite the heavy crash, and was seen giving the crowd a standing salute on the back of his Ute following the incident.
12. This is round seven of an eight round series and the battle for the title is really heating up with only 380 (140 this weekend) more points out of 1120 up for grabs.
2012 Gold Coast winner David Sieders now leads the ENZED Drivers’ Championship after an amazing weekend at Bathurst – but he only leads local driver Ryal “The Kid” Harris by three points. They are sitting on 694 and 691 respectively, with Rhys McNally in third on 651, Nathan Pretty fourth with 647 and Kris Walton rounding up the top five on 640.
Additional facts:
- The V8 Utes were forced to race under street lights in 2003 after the event program was running late. All the street lights were turned on as the race was covered for television, the race started as a massive thunderstorm with lightning rolled in.
- In 2002, TV Host Grant Denyer scored his first V8 Ute Gold Coast win, however was excluded along with another five drivers who all shortcut the turn one chicane handing victory to Damien White.
- In 2005, Marcus Zukanovic aqua planed on the main straight hitting the wall and setting up a chain reaction eliminating another three Utes – the race was red flagged and Zukanovic came-back in 2006 to claim the Championship title.
- International and the late Allan Simonsen took a V8 Ute Round win in 2005 on the Gold Coast for the Coopers Ford team, a three car team with V8 Ute Patron Ian McAlister and former NRL star Jack Elsegood.
- 2006 was the second closest race in V8 Ute History Marcus Zukanovic pipped Scott Jennings by only 0.0497s in Race Two.
