The Auckland SuperSprint was an annual
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
event for
Supercars
A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...
, held at
Pukekohe Park Raceway
Pukekohe Park is a horse racing, motor racing, and community events facility located in Pukekohe, New Zealand, approximately south of the Auckland CBD, in the Auckland Region of the North Island. The venue, owned by Counties Racing Club Inc. ...
in
Pukekohe
Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. The event was a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the
Shell Championship Series
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
and V8 Supercars Championship—since
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
.
The event was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Supercars returned to New Zealand and the Pukekoke Park Raceway circuit on September 10–11 for Round 10 of the 2022 season.
Format
The event was staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two thirty-minute practice sessions were held, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Saturday featured a three-part qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre race. Two separated ten-minute qualifying sessions were held on Sunday, which decided the grid for the following 120 km races.
Jason Richards Memorial Trophy
Since 2013, the driver who scored the most points across all races during the weekend has received the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy. The trophy was introduced at the 2013 event in honour of
Jason Richards
Jason John Richards (10 April 1976 – 15 December 2011) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. A multiple championship winning driver in his homeland in the New Zealand Touring Car Championship, he moved to Australia to pursue a career in the ...
, a one-time New Zealand Supercars race winner and
Supercars Hall of Fame The Supercars Hall of Fame is a collection of individuals and events that recognise the efforts of past champions and prominent figures within the Supercars Championship. A new inductee is announced annually at the championship's end of season gala ...
member who died of cancer in 2011.
History
Background
Pukehohe Park was one of New Zealand's most historic race tracks, and has long seen links with Australian motor racing. This dates back to the famed
Pukekohe 500
The Pukekohe 500 was an endurance motor racing event first held in 1963 at Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe, New Zealand, Pukekohe, New Zealand.
History
The Pukekohe 500 had its origins in the W.D. & H.O. Wills, Wills Six-Hour race that was first ...
, which originally ran from 1984 to 1993 for touring cars and dates back to 1963 for
production cars. Several Australian teams, along with local and international teams, competed in the endurance
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...
event with Australian-based teams winning the event several times. The event was often twinned with the
Wellington 500
The Wellington 500 was a street race for touring cars which took place at Wellington City in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1987 event was a round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship.
The final running of the race w ...
, on a street circuit in
Wellington City
Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, ...
. In
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
, twelve cars from the
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
raced in the Mobil 1 Sprints, a two event series at Pukekohe and Wellington. In a precursor to his later Supercars success at the track, all three races were won by local driver
Greg Murphy
Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first internati ...
for the
Holden Racing Team
Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
.
Championship era
The first championship round at Pukekohe Park for what was then known as
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
was held in
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
, entitled the
Boost Mobile Boost Mobile may refer to:
* Boost Mobile (Australia), an Australian mobile virtual network operator
* Boost Mobile (United States), an American mobile virtual network operator owned by Dish Wireless
* Spark New Zealand
Spark New Zealand Limit ...
V8 International. It was the first round in the history of the
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
and Supercars not to be contested in Australia.
Mark Skaife
Mark Skaife (born 3 April 1967) is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bath ...
sealed the
2001 Shell Championship Series
The 2001 Shell Championship Series was an auto racing series for V8 Supercars. The championship, which was the third Shell Championship Series, began on 25 March 2001 at Phillip Island and ended on 2 December at Sandown after 13 rounds. The same ...
in the first race, while Greg Murphy won the event, taking pole position and winning all three races for the
Kmart Racing Team. Murphy maintained strong form at Pukekohe, winning again in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
The 2002 event contained the 500th race in championship history, which was won by Skaife.
Jason Bright
Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...
was the only other driver to win the event in the first five years, doing so in 2004, while Murphy finished third.
In 2005 there was a major accident involving
Craig Baird
Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Australian Supercars Championship.
Honours
In the 2010 New Year Honours, Baird was appointed a Member of the New ...
and
Paul Dumbrell
Paul Dumbrell (born 1 September 1982) is an Australian business executive and retired racing driver.
Racing history
Junior career
Son of former racing driver Garry Dumbrell, Paul Dumbrell started racing in karts in 1996 and by the end of 1997 D ...
during the third race.
Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Holden Z ...
slid off the track at the final corner and Baird and Dumbrell squeezed together as Whincup returned to the circuit. However, Baird and Dumbrell came together and spun, both hitting the wall before coming to rest on opposite sides of the track with severely damaged cars. The race was red flagged as a result.
Hiatus
The New Zealand event moved to the
Hamilton Street Circuit
The Hamilton Street Circuit was a temporary street circuit in Hamilton, New Zealand. From 2008 to 2012 it hosted the Hamilton 400 as part of the V8 Supercars championship.
From 2010 to 2012, ITM, New Zealand's largest group of independent tra ...
for 2008 and remained there until 2012.
Return
Supercars returned to a slightly modified Pukekohe layout in 2013 and the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy was introduced.
Jason Bright
Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...
and
Brad Jones Racing
Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...
, Richards' last teammate and team respectively, were the first winners of the trophy.
In 2014, Ford's
Mark Winterbottom
Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the ...
was the event winner, marking the first win at the event for
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
in its ninth running. The event was run over the
Anzac Day
, image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg
, caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary.
, observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...
long weekend, including a race on a Friday for the first time in championship history. In 2015 and 2017,
Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Holden Z ...
, who was a teammate of Jason Richards in 2005 at
Tasman Motorsport
Tasman Motorsport was a V8 Supercar racing team. It was formed in 2004 out of what was Lansvale Racing Team V8 Supercar team and was associated with Greg Murphy Racing as a satellite operation.
Tasman Motorsport entered the series in 2004 ...
and co-drove with him to a second-place finish at the
2005 Bathurst 1000, won the trophy.
In 2016,
Shane van Gisbergen
Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins (2016, 2021, 202 ...
became the first New Zealand driver to win the trophy.
In 2018, championship combatants van Gisbergen and
Scott McLaughlin
Scott Thomas McLaughlin (; born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won ...
each took a first and second in the two races, with McLaughlin winning the event on a countback due to his higher Sunday result. The same two drivers won races in the 2019 event, which moved to a September date, with van Gisbergen this time winning the trophy. In winning the Sunday race, which included a controversial safety car that shuffled the field, McLaughlin surpassed
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Supe ...
'
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
record of 16 wins in a season.
2020 move and cancellation
As in 2013, the 2020 Pukekohe event was scheduled on the Anzac Day weekend. It was later discovered that an amendment to
Auckland Council
Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...
's Unitary Plan in the intermediary period prohibited racing on the public holiday. As such the event was to be moved to the nearby
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park
The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club.
History
The motorsport park is an ...
, and was to continue to be known as the Auckland Super400 despite being located in the neighbouring
Waikato
Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...
region.
The event was later postponed, rescheduled to January 2021 (within the prolonged 2020 championship) and then cancelled altogether - all due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The 2021 event was similarly cancelled due to the border issues arising from the pandemic.
Venue Change
On 20 July 2022 it was confirmed that
Pukekohe Park Raceway
Pukekohe Park is a horse racing, motor racing, and community events facility located in Pukekohe, New Zealand, approximately south of the Auckland CBD, in the Auckland Region of the North Island. The venue, owned by Counties Racing Club Inc. ...
will cease motorsport activities from 2 April 2023.
Pukekohe Park Raceway cease Motorsport Activities
Speedcafe.com 20 July 2022
Winners
''Events which were not championship rounds are indicated by a pink background.''
Multiple winners
By driver
''Wins which did not count towards the championship season are indicated by a pink background.''
By team
By manufacturer
;Notes
* – The HSV Dealer Team was known as Kmart Racing Team from 2001 to 2004, hence their statistics are combined.
Event names and sponsors
* 1996: Mobil 1
Mobil 1 is a brand of synthetic motor oil and other automotive lubrication products. Originally developed by the Mobil oil company, it is now globally marketed and sold by ExxonMobil.
Mobil 1 engine oil was introduced in 1974. The brand range no ...
Sprints
* 2001–02: Boost Mobile Boost Mobile may refer to:
* Boost Mobile (Australia), an Australian mobile virtual network operator
* Boost Mobile (United States), an American mobile virtual network operator owned by Dish Wireless
* Spark New Zealand
Spark New Zealand Limit ...
V8 International
* 2003–05: PlaceMakers
PlaceMakers is the trading name of Fletcher Distribution Limited, the retail trading arm of Fletcher Building in New Zealand. PlaceMakers also manufactures wall frames, roof trusses and structural components at various frame and truss operation ...
V8 International
* 2006–07: PlaceMakers V8 Supercars
* 2013: ITM 400 Auckland
* 2014–15: ITM 500 Auckland
* 2016–22: ITM Auckland SuperSprint
See also
* Hamilton 400
The Hamilton 400, also known as the ITM Hamilton 400 for sponsorship reasons, was a V8 Supercar motor racing event held on the Hamilton Street Circuit, Hamilton, New Zealand. The event was held from 2008 to 2012, and is one of only two New Zeala ...
* Pukekohe 500
The Pukekohe 500 was an endurance motor racing event first held in 1963 at Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe, New Zealand, Pukekohe, New Zealand.
History
The Pukekohe 500 had its origins in the W.D. & H.O. Wills, Wills Six-Hour race that was first ...
* Wellington 500
The Wellington 500 was a street race for touring cars which took place at Wellington City in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1987 event was a round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship.
The final running of the race w ...
* List of Australian Touring Car Championship races
The list of Australian Touring Car Championship Races is a list of all the races or rounds which have been held in the combined 60-year history of the Australian Touring Car Championship, V8 Supercars Championship and Supercars Championship.
As o ...
References
{{V8 Supercar Teams
Supercars Championship races
Auto races in New Zealand
Recurring sporting events established in 2001
Recurring events disestablished in 2007
Recurring sporting events established in 2013