Wanneroo Supercars round

The Perth Super 440 is the current name of the annual motor racing event for Supercars , held at Wanneroo Raceway in Wanneroo , Western Australia . The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship and its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship , since 1973 .

Format

The event is staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. One single ninety-minute practice session is held on Friday. On Saturday then, a three-stage knockout qualifying session is held which decides the grid positions for the following 100 kilometre race. Two separated fifteen-minute qualifying sessions are held on Sunday, which decide the grid for the following 100 km races. [ 1 ]

History

Wanneroo Park Raceway, as it was then known, hosted its first round of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) in 1973, with Allan Moffat taking the first of his three event victories over Peter Brock . [ 2 ] It was the first ATCC event ever held in Western Australia and featured the only appearance of a Subaru in the history of the ATCC. The championship did not return to Wanneroo until 1978. The event that year consisted of two heats and the Holden Dealer Team scored a rare 1-2-3 finish...

During practice for the 1983 event, Moffat found that his Mazda RX-7 struggled on the rises in the circuit compared to the other cars. To compensate for this, he started the race with the petrol tank only half-filled and made a pit stop during the race. The strategy worked and Moffat took victory, despite almost colliding with Brock when the latter spun in the closing stages. [ 4 ] Moffat's Mazda won again in 1984, the final win for the four-time series champion. [ 2 ] Under Group A regulations,...

The Holden Racing Team controlled the event from 1996 to 2000, taking victory in all five years. Craig Lowndes won all twelve races across the 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 events, having missed the 1997 event as he was racing overseas. [ 7 ] Brock took his final ATCC round victory in that 1997 weekend despite not winning any of the races during the event. That event included the closest race finish in event history with Larry Perkins holding off John Bowe . [ 2 ] Paul Radisich interrupted the Holde...

In this period, discussions were held about moving the event to a street circuit in Perth , and Barbagallo dropped off the 2010 calendar due to dated facilities. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] The Government of Western Australia resisted moving the event and Wanneroo was instead upgraded, with the circuit returning to the calendar in 2011 and a new pit and paddock complex being built for 2012. [ 11 ] The 2011 event saw one of the biggest accidents in the history of the championship take place. Karl Reindler , 13...

Lowndes took his 91st career race victory in the ATCC and Supercars Championship during the 2013 event, breaking Skaife's previous record of 90. [ 14 ] In 2014, Scott McLaughlin gave Volvo its first race victory in its return to the series, having last competed in 1986. [ 15 ] Lowndes took his 16th and final Barbagallo race win in the Saturday race in 2016, opting to make an additional pitstop to most other cars and moving up from 22nd at pit exit to take the victory. [ 16 ] The two other Triple...

Format

The event is scheduled to be held at Wanneroo for the final time in 2026 with the Western Australian round scheduled to be held at the Perth Street Circuit from 2027 . [ 26 ]

References

1 Will Brown 88 Broc Feeney

2 Ryan Wood 25 Chaz Mostert

3 Aaron Cameron 7 James Courtney

4 Cameron Hill 10 Nick Percat

6 Cam Waters 55 Thomas Randle

Quick Facts

0 nan

0 Race Information

0 Venue

0 Number of times held

0 First held

0 Race Format

0 Race 1

0 Laps

0 Distance

0 Race 2

Table 1

Year	Driver[3]	Team	Car	Report
1973	Allan Moffat	Ford	Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III	nan
1974 – 1977	not held	not held	not held	not held
1978	Peter Brock	Holden Dealer Team	Holden LX Torana SS A9X	nan
1979	Peter Brock	Holden Dealer Team	Holden LX Torana SS A9X	nan
1980	Allan Grice	Craven Mild Racing	Holden LX Torana SS A9X	nan
1981	Peter Brock	Holden Dealer Team	Holden VC Commodore	nan
1982	Allan Grice	Re-Car Racing	Holden VH Commodore SS	nan
1983	Allan Moffat	Allan Moffat Racing	Mazda RX-7	nan
1984	Allan Moffat	Allan Moffat Racing	Mazda RX-7	nan
1985	Jim Richards	JPS Team BMW	BMW 635 CSi	nan

Table 2

Wins	Driver	Years
6	Craig Lowndes	1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2015, 2016
5	Peter Brock	1978, 1979, 1981, 1990, 1997
3	Allan Moffat	1973, 1983, 1984
3	Jamie Whincup	2009, 2011, 2013
3	Scott McLaughlin	2017, 2018, 2019
2	Allan Grice	1980, 1982
2	John Bowe	1989, 1992
2	Jim Richards	1985, 1993
2	Glenn Seton	1987, 1995
2	Jason Bright	2002, 2004

Table 3

Wins	Team
7	Dick Johnson Racing1
7	Walkinshaw Andretti United2
7	Triple Eight Race Engineering
4	Gibson Motorsport
4	Holden Dealer Team3
3	Ford Performance Racing
2	Allan Moffat Racing
2	Glenn Seton Racing
2	Perkins Engineering

F1ABY Commentary

Do you ever consider that the roar of a crowd isn’t just noise, but the collective heartbeat of a nation yearning for speed? Wanneroo, then a park, now a crucible—it began with a hesitant pulse, a single ninety-minute session attempting to coax brilliance from steel and rubber. The echoes of that initial ambition still cling to the asphalt, a ghostly reminder of a gamble taken, a dream ignited. Observe how the very layout, born of a simpler time, demands a respect, a deference from the drivers. It’s a testament, isn't it, to the enduring power of a track to shape a legend? The Perth Super 440—a name that whispers of continuity, of a lineage stretching back to those first tentative steps. Let us remember that the spirit of competition, the pursuit of a fleeting moment of perfection, remains unchanged.

The scent of eucalyptus and burning rubber – a phantom of countless Australian suns – hangs heavy in the air at Wanneroo. Before us unfolds a lineage of speed, etched into this very circuit, a testament to a national obsession with raw, untamed velocity. This isn't merely a race; it’s the echo of a spirit, a defiant roar against the vast, beautiful indifference of the Western Australian landscape.

F1ABY Trivia

The dust of '73 still clings to this place, doesn’t it? A Ford Falcon XR6GT, breathing 235 horsepower through its veins, battling against a Holden Torana A9X—a beast of 205—across a track carved from the very earth of Wanneroo Park. Observe the tire choice; Dunlop RS501s, a compound designed for grip, yet fragile, a testament to the era’s delicate balance between speed and survival. A fascinating contrast, wouldn’t you agree?

The dust of '73 still clings to this place, doesn’t it? A phantom scent of Dunlop rubber and burning oil hangs in the air, a tangible echo of those early ATCC battles waged on this very soil. Look at the numbers – seventeen rounds held here, a testament to the stubborn, enduring spirit of motorsport. Astonishingly, despite the shifting tides of technology, a driver has never won more than twice at Wanneroo; a quiet, almost melancholy statistic, isn't it?

F1ABY Tales

The rain, a silver curtain descending with a sudden, brutal insistence. Peterson wrestled the Falcon, a snarling beast momentarily subdued, as the spray plastered itself against the window. A fractured image – the rising, corrugated iron of the grandstands, a ghost of cheering crowds. The scent of wet earth and high-octane fuel, a primal cocktail that spoke of battles fought and won. This wasn’t just racing; it was a reckoning. A testament to grit, to the stubborn refusal to yield to the elements. The echoes of Bathurst, of the early ATCC wars, resonated in the drumming rain.

The rain hammered against the corrugated iron roof of the pit lane, a relentless percussion mirroring the anxieties swirling around young Dick Johnson. 1973… a year etched with the scent of Dunlop rubber and the raw, untamed spirit of a rising star. He adjusted his helmet, a familiar ritual, a silent conversation with the ghosts of Bathurst’s past. A young man, burdened with the hopes of a nation, wrestling with the mechanical beast beneath him. This wasn’t just a race; it was a baptism by thunder, a test of will against the unforgiving Australian landscape. The echoes of that first roar at Wanneroo, a nascent symphony of speed and steel, would forever resonate within the heart of this circuit.