Sandown 500 Supercars car by car event guide

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 14 September 2023

Fans can rejoice because the iconic Sandown 500 is back after four years away and will breathe new life into the Supercars season.

After eight sprint rounds, Supercars is shifting gears into enduro mode where luck, strategy, patience, plus mental and mechanical toughness will make winning that much harder.

Download the full Supercars Sandown 500 Round 9 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles here

It will be the 49th running of the Sandown 500 event this weekend which has been the traditional stepping stone to Bathurst.

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes won the 2019 Sandown 500 after Shane van Gisbergen hit late trouble. Photo by Dirk Klynsmith / LAT Images)

But the event is much bigger than just a warm up being one of the most prestigious in Australian motorsport history.

Since the 500km race returned to Sandown in 2012, Triple Eight has reigned supreme at the high-speed circuit.

It won the first three races after it returned before resuming another winning streak courtesy of back to back wins by Jamie Whincup in 2018 and 2019.

The 2018 race was the perfect symbol of Triple Eight dominance with all three cars locking out the podium.

Triple Eight’s supreme Sandown record has also translated into the sprint races held at the track since the enduro disappeared during the COVID-19 affected seasons.

Shane van Gisbergen has won five of the last six races at Sandown including a special effort in 2021.

Shane van Gisbergen cleans swept the 2021 event despite starting 17th with a broken collarbone. Meanwhile, back to back wins last year means the Kiwi has won five of the last six races.

However, van Gisbergen has never won the Sandown 500 and 2023 could be his last shot depending on how his American dream pans out.

Despite Triple Eight having the perfect package at the high-speed track across the last two generations of car, there is no guarantee this will continue with Gen3.

Erebus Motorsport is the team to beat and championship leader Brodie Kostecki is flying high from his first clean sweep of his career.

Although he is yet to win at Sandown, it has been a happy hunting ground for Kostecki being the scene of his first Super2 win and Supercars podium, while Erebus has always been fast in enduros.

Brodie Kostecki scored his forst ever Supercars podium at Sandown in the 2021 SuperSprint

Worryingly for Triple Eight both Ford squads Tickford and Walkinshaw Andretti United displayed better pace at The Bend.

Leading the charge was Thomas Randle, who hopes to carry the momentum from a breakout weekend, while Cam Waters will dream of doing something similar to his 2017 masterclass and Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth resume their potent combination.

Cars #88 (Feeney/Whincup) #9 (Brown/Perkins) #8 (Heimgartner/Wood) #26 (Reynolds/Tander) #17 (Alex and Will Davison) are also just some of the contenders, but the beauty of endurance races is anything can happen.

Kostecki enjoys a 137-point lead in the championship, but with 300 up for grabs this weekend the equation could be turned on its head.

Whincup and Lowndes dominated in 2019, but they will be chasing back to back wins in separate cars.

Whincup is back in car #88 with Feeney, while Lowndes has retained #888 in the Supercheap Auto wildcard alongside Zane Goddard.

Mark Winterbottom took the last Sandown 500 pole in a shootout back in 2007.

A second wildcard is also joining the field in the all black Racer Industries #7 Mustang of Aaron Love and Jake Kostecki backed by Blanchard Racing Team.

The new Gen3 cars will not be the only different thing to Sandown 500’s of the past.

The Top 10 Shootout returns for the first time since 2007 after the grid was set by a pair of qualifying races.

There will also be no minimum amount of compulsory stops required, while the Super Soft Dunlop rubber could throw another curveball to the engineers.

With three big days of on-track action culminating with 161 laps around a 3.1km track stepped in history, a dream weekend of Sandown history lies ahead.

Download the full Supercars Sandown 500 Round 9 Event Guide with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus extensive driver profiles HERE

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION or subscribe HERE

Listen to our latest podcast episode here or on your podcast app of choice.

The Endurance is about to get underway with the Sandown 500 scheduled as the warm up to the Bathurst 1000 in 3 weeks time! Listen to the latest episode

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