_track_map.svg) | |
| Race Information | |
| Venue | Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit |
| Number of times held | 8 |
| First held | 2009 |
| Last held | 2016 |
| Race Format | |
| Race 1 | |
| Laps | 74 |
| Distance | 250 km |
| Race 2 | |
| Laps | 74 |
| Distance | 250 km |
| Last Event (2016) | |
| Overall Winner | |
 Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| Race Winners | |
 Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
TheSydney 500 was an annualmotor racing event forSupercars, held at theHomebush Street Circuit inSydney Olympic Park,New South Wales,Australia. The event was a regular part of the Supercars Championship from2009 to2016, being the final event on the calendar.
The event was staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two forty-minute practice sessions were held on Friday while Saturday featured one 20-minute qualifying session which decided the grid positions for the following 250 kilometre race. A twenty-minute qualifying session was held on Sunday, succeeded by a top ten shootout, the combined results of which decided the grid for the following 250 km race.[1]
From 2009 to 2013, a single 250 km race was held on the Saturday. This was changed to two 125 km races in 2014 as part of the Super Street format introduced that year.[2] In 2016, the event returned to the original 2 x 250 km format.[3]
Sydney had long hosted touring car events, however only at permanent circuits such asSydney Motorsport Park andOran Park Raceway. With Oran Park being demolished after2008 for ahousing redevelopment, and Sydney Motorsport Park failing to draw large crowds, the idea of building astreet circuit at Sydney Olympic Park was devised by thestate government and Supercars to create a new showpiece Sydney event.[4][5] The Sydney 500, then sponsored byTelstra, was launched on 16 May 2009, atMartin Place inSydney. The launch began with six V8 Supercars driving across theSydney Harbour Bridge before the morning peak hour traffic.
The inaugural2009 event sawJamie Whincup wrap up his second V8 Supercars title in the Saturday race, though the race was won byGarth Tander, driving for theHolden Racing Team. The event drew a large crowd of almost 185,000 people across the weekend, and the use of a 'rock and race' format was credited with opening up Supercars to a new demographic in Sydney.[5] The first year saw Australian rock bandCold Chisel reformed to perform on the Saturday night atANZ Stadium, which is inside the boundaries of the track. With the then series chairmanTony Cochrane an experienced concert promoter, event concerts in future years included performances fromGuns N' Roses,John Farnham andHunters and Collectors amongst others.[6] In later years, the concert aspect of the event was either reduced in stature or dropped completely.
One of the event's most notable incidents took place during the2010 event. In the Saturday race, a sudden rain shower caught out the leading cars at turn 5, causing several cars, including race leaderMark Winterbottom and leading championship contenders Whincup andJames Courtney, to hit the wall. As all three drivers had a mathematical chance of winning the championship, Courtney, Whincup and Winterbottom all limped their cars back to the pit lane for repairs.Jonathon Webb and his teamTekno Autosports took their maiden race wins, while Courtney was the only one of the championship contender to return to the track and be classified as a finisher, securing vital points that helped him seal the championship on Sunday.[7] Whincup also returned to the track, but was unable to set a fast enough lap time to be classified.[8]
In 2011, Whincup andTriple Eight Race Engineering teammateCraig Lowndes battled for the championship, with Whincup prevailing to score his third title despite crashing during the Saturday race.[9] In2012, Lowndes became the first driver to score multiple race victories at the event.[10] Whincup took his first victory in 2013, winning the Saturday having never finished on the podium at Homebush previously. A third-place finish on Sunday saw Whincup score a record-equalling fifth title, with Lowndes again finishing runner-up.[11]
In2014, former series championMarcos Ambrose made his return to Supercars after racing inNASCAR from 2006 to 2014. He drove a wildcard entry, the first entered in a sprint round of the championship, run byDJR Team Penske.[12] Two of the three races that weekend, the second Saturday race and the Sunday race, were red flagged after torrential rain and thunderstorms hit the circuit.[13] The 2015 event saw Mark Winterbottom claim his first Supercars title.[14] The2016 event, its final running, saw the event crown another new series champion, withShane van Gisbergen recovering from a drive-through penalty to secure a podium finish in the Saturday race.[15]
In its early years, the event was one of the most unpredictable on the calendar, with seven different winners in the first eight races.[16] However, in the ten races that followed, only Whincup (six wins) and van Gisbergen (four wins) have won races. The event was also known for its high attrition rate and high chance ofsafety cars.[16]
TheNew South Wales Government under PremierNathan Rees was criticised for spending $30 million of taxpayers' money to subsidise the Sydney 500.[17]
Critics said the event would cost the NSW government far more than the amount originally stated. The Olympic Park Authority said "it is clear that in all scenarios the current V8 Supercars Australia budget estimates are too low and/or incomplete." Government involvement in the races was opposed by the Premier's adviser on events,John O'Neill, as well as the government's infrastructure chief, David Richmond.[17] FederalLaborMP,Laurie Ferguson, said that it's all about "News Limited andChannel Seven - they're trying to please them."News Limited, publisher ofThe Daily Telegraph, and theSeven Network, who were a sponsor and broadcaster of the event respectively, had lobbied the New South Wales Government for public funding of the Supercars event.[18]
Despite initial reports of success from event organisers, a report from theAuditor-General of New South Wales in 2010 supported the critics' claims. It concluded that the government failed to adequately estimate the costs of the event, and that the benefits of the event were not as high as expected.[19] Despite the ongoing criticism, and a change of government, in 2013 the event was renewed until the end of 2016, with an option for the government to extend the deal for a further two years.[20] The expected crowd inflows from interstate and overseas dropped from 15,000 in the original deal in 2009 to 5,000 for the new deal.[20]
The conversion of part of theSydney Olympic Park precinct into a street circuit was widely criticised by environmental groups. TheTotal Environment Centre said that the New South Wales Government overrode the threatened species law, as well as the Homebush Bay Authority's planning principals, and would cause social, environmental and economic disruption at Sydney Olympic Park.[21]
In 2015, Supercars proposed to shorten the circuit to reduce the event's costs.[22] This proposal failed, and in March 2016 it was announced that the ongoing costs of running the event would result in 2016 being the final running of the Sydney 500.[23] Other options within New South Wales were then considered to replace the event, such as a street circuit being built inGosford on theCentral Coast.[23] The Gosford plans fell through and in September 2016 thePremier of New South Wales,Mike Baird, announced the event would be replaced with theNewcastle 500, held on theNewcastle Street Circuit inNewcastle, around 160 km north of Sydney.[24]
| Race Wins | Driver |
|---|---|
| 6 | Jamie Whincup |
| 4 | Shane van Gisbergen |
| 2 | Craig Lowndes |
| Race Wins | Team |
|---|---|
| 9 | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
| 4 | Tekno Autosports |
| 2 | Ford Performance Racing |
| Race Wins | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 14 | Holden |
| 4 | Ford |
