Clipsal fast facts

The former Formula 1 street circuit is renowned for being one of the best in the world. Shortened from its Grand Prix length by 700 metres to 3.2-kilometres, the circuit is very busy from inside the cockpit and, apart from the run down the back straight, gives drivers very few opportunities to relax. The circuit features major resurfacing work for 2009 as well as new pit lane facilities.

Circuit length: 3.2-kilometres
Circuit direction: Clockwise

Average speed: 146km/h
Maximum speed: 251km/h
Fastest Point: Peter Brock Straight approaching turn 8
Slowest Point: Turn 9 hairpin
V8 Supercar Qualifying Record: Jamie Whincup, Falcon BF, 1m21.3301s, 2008.
V8 Supercar Lap Record: Jamie Whincup, Falcon BF, 1m22.3564s, 2008.
Point of Interest: The winner of the Clipsal 500 has gone on to win the V8 Supercar Championship Series four times. Craig Lowndes did it in 1999, Mark Skaife in 2002, Marcos Ambrose in 2004 and Jamie Whincup in 2008.

10 FAST FACTS

1. Defending V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup is eyeing off some further history in the opening event of the 2009 series. If Whincup can win the Clipsal 500 he will become the first three-time winner of the event. The TeamVodafone driver is currently tied on two Clipsal 500 event wins with Marcos Ambrose and Mark Skaife. He has won three individual races in Adelaide - Race 2 in 2006 and both races last year. Despite the change to race winners being recognised in 2009, the winner of the Clipsal 500 event is still deemed to be the winning driver in Sunday's second 78-lap race.

2. There are many changes for this year's V8 Supercar Championship Series, perhaps the most notable being the introduction of E85 ethanol fuel, which will drastically modify the amount of laps a car can run before it needs to refuel. Another significant factor is the abolishment of compulsory pit stops. Teams will pit in Adelaide whenever they wish to change tyres or refuel, whereas previously there were separate compulsory stops, one for fuel and another for tyres. The Top 10 Shootout is back full-time as the third leg of qualifying (the first time since 2006), while the big change to qualifying will be that it will determine the grid for both races over the weekend. Previously the finishing results of the first race determined the grid for the next race.

3. The make-up of this year's 30 car field is interesting with 18 Holdens taking on 12 Fords. Of the Holden teams there are four brand new VE Commodores debuting in Adelaide in the hands of Rick and Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel's Racing), Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing) and Michael Caruso (Garry Rogers Motorsport). On the Ford side, nine brand new FG Falcons will debut in Adelaide, while Jason Bright (Britek Motorsport), Michael Patrizi (Wilson Security Racing) and Marcus Marshall (Team IntaRacing) will be using the older model BF Falcon.

4. The brothers Davison - Alex and Will - get to face off this year for the first time on a full-time basis in their careers, beginning with the Clipsal 500. Previously they have competed against one another in the endurance events, but this year both are factory-backed drivers for Ford and Holden respectively. Alex replaces James Courtney at Stone Brothers Racing after a season racing Porsches in international sportscar racing and will make his first appearance as a full-time driver in the Championship Series since a largely unsuccessful season in an Autobarn Commodore in 2005. Will replaces Mark Skaife at Toll HRT, the first time he has raced a Holden since driving for Team Dynamik in the second half of the 2004 Championship. He'll become the 11th different full-time driver for HRT since it started in the series in 1990.

5. 2008 Championship Series runner-up Mark Winterbottom is keen to get this 2009 challenge off to a good start. But the Clipsal 500 has never been very kind to 'Frosty' whose second place in last year's opening race remains his only real Adelaide highlight. The Melbourne-based FPR pilot has never finished in the top 10 overall results and of the 10 individual races he has started has only finished in the top five twice. Mechanical problems and being the innocent victim of multi-car accidents have generally proven to be his downfall at the Clipsal 500.

6. With the retirement of Mark Skaife, there are now just five drivers who can lay claim to having been on the grid for every single Clipsal 500 since the event was first held in 1999. Garth Tander, Steven Richards, Russell Ingall, Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes will all line up for their 11th start in the event this year. Of them, FPR's Richards can claim bragging rights over the rest for the fact he has finished every single 250-kilometre race in those 10 previous events.

7. Experience is a major factor again in 2009 and the signing of Jason Bargwanna to Sprint Gas Racing means it now has the most experience of all of the two-driver teams in the V8 Supercar Championship Series. He and Greg Murphy combine to make 273 Championship starts and the stats make for interesting reading.
Jason Bright's 131 starts will help contribute to the Stone Brothers Racing tally given his Britek Falcon is being run by the team this year.

RANK TEAM (DRIVERS) STARTS

1 Sprint Gas Racing (Murphy/Bargwanna) 273
2 Brad Jones Racing (J.Richards/McConville) 230
3 Ford Performance Racing (S.Richards/Winterbottom) 223
4 TeamVodafone (Lowndes/Whincup) 222
5 Jack Daniel's Racing (T.Kelly/R.Kelly) 216
6 Toll Holden Racing Team (Tander/W.Davison) 186
7 Jim Beam Racing (Johnson/Courtney) 175
8 Supercheap Auto Racing (Ingall/Slade) 162
9 Walkinshaw Racing (Dumbrell/Reynolds) 91
10 Garry Rogers Motorsport (Holdsworth/Caruso) 64
11 Wilson Security Racing (Coulthard/Patrizi) 45
12 Stone Brothers Racing (A.Davison/Van Gisbergen) 38
13 Kelly Racing (Perkins/Wood) 23

8. Just 16 of the 30 driver/team combinations for the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series remain the same as last year, however only three of the two-car teams are returning with the same drivers line-ups. Not surprisingly, the top two teams in last year's Teams and Drivers Championship - TeamVodafone and Ford Performance Racing - are two of the three, while Garry Rogers Motorsport is the other.

9. Five drivers are making their Clipsal 500 debuts in the opening event of the V8 Supercar Championship Series. Dale Wood (Kelly Racing), Tim Slade (Supercheap Auto Racing), David Reynolds (Bundaberg Red Racing), Dean Fiore (Team Kiwi Racing) and Michael Patrizi (Wilson Security Racing) are making their first starts in the event, however only Slade and Fiore are making their maiden start in a Championship Series event. Wood, Slade and Reynolds all raced in the Fujitsu Series round at Adelaide last year with Wood finishing third overall, while Fiore finished second in the Porsche Carrera Cup round at the circuit.

10. Adelaide sees the beginning of the 10th season of racing in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. Originally established in 2000, the development category has produced a total of eight different Champions. Among the interest in this year's championship is the addition of Formula Ford and Carrera Cup Championship-winning squad Sonic Motor Racing in a pair of former TeamVodafone BF Falcons. Local South Australian driver Bryce Washington will drive for the team in the car Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes used to win Bathurst last year. He will be joined by James Moffat, while 2006 series runner-up Shane Price returns in a locally-run Jay Motorsport Commodore and Jonathon Webb - who finished third in last year's championship - will drive an ex-FPR Falcon for Matthew White's team.

Previous Clipsal 500 Winners
1999 Craig Lowndes HRT Holden Commodore VT
2000 Garth Tander GRM Holden Commodore VT
2001 Jason Bright HRT Holden Commodore VX
2002 Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VX
2003 Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VY
2004 Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
2005 Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
2006 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Ford Falcon BA
2007 Rick Kelly HSV DT Holden Commodore VE
2008 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Ford Falcon BF

Note: In 2000 the winner of the Clipsal 500 was the driver who scored the most points over the two races. In all other years the winner of the Clipsal 500 is the winner of the second race on Sunday.

Wins By Driver
2 - Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose, Jamie Whincup
1 - Craig Lowndes, Jason Bright, Rick Kelly

Individual Clipsal 500 Race Winners
1999 Craig Lowndes HRT Holden Commodore VT
2000 Craig Lowndes HRT Holden Commodore VT
Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VT
2001 Craig Lowndes Gibson Ford Falcon AU
Jason Bright HRT Holden Commodore VX
2002 Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VX
Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VX
2003 Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VY
2004 Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
2005 Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
Marcos Ambrose SBR Ford Falcon BA
2006 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Ford Falcon BA
Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Ford Falcon BA
2007 Todd Kelly HRT Holden Commodore VE
Rick Kelly HSV DT Holden Commodore VE
2008 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Ford Falcon BF
Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Ford Falcon BF

Note: The 1999 event was deemed to be one race held over two days rather than two individual races.

Race Wins By Driver
5 - Marcos Ambrose
4 - Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes
3 - Jamie Whincup
1 - Jason Bright, Todd Kelly, Rick Kelly

Pole Positions By Driver
2 - Jason Bright, Greg Murphy, Mark Skaife
1 - Garth Tander, Rick Kelly, James Courtney, Jamie Whincup

Previous Clipsal 500 Pole Positions
1999 Jason Bright SBR Ford Falcon AU
2000 Garth Tander GRM Holden Commodore VT
2001 Greg Murphy Kmart Holden Commodore VX
2002 Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VX
2003 Jason Bright Team Brock Holden Commodore VX
2004 Greg Murphy Kmart Holden Commodore VY
2005 Rick Kelly HSV DT Holden Commodore VZ
2006 Mark Skaife HRT Holden Commodore VZ
2007 James Courtney SBR Ford Falcon BF
2008 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Ford Falcon BF

Note: From 1999 to 2006, pole position was determined by a Top 10 Shootout - 15 cars competed in the Shootout in 2001 and 2002. In 2007 and 2008 the pole position has been determined by a three-leg qualifying system with 10 cars on-track together for the final segment of qualifying to determine pole.