EVENT 13, V8 SUPERCARS at the FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
RACES 24, 25 & 26 OF THE 2012 V8 SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP
Point of Interest: This year is the third time that the V8 Supercars Championship have raced at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, however it is the first time the cars will run on the full 5.55-kilometre layout and the first time in history a points-paying V8 Supercars event has been part of a Formula 1 Grand Prix event.
Circuit Length: 5.55-kilometres Circuit Direction: Anti-Clockwise
Circuit Description: The circuit is situated on Yas Island, about 30 minutes from Abu Dhabi itself with V8 Supercars first appearing at the venue in 2010. The full circuit features 21 corners with seating capacity for over 40,000 fans. The marina-based development also includes a theme park, water park, hotels and beaches.
10 FAST FACTS
1. V8 Supercars Championship leader Jamie Whincup holds a 218 point lead over Mark Winterbottom heading to Abu Dhabi, but it's his record at fly-away races that must also have his rivals nervous.
The three-time V8 Supercar champion has won three of the four races at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi (in 2010 and 2011, right) and finished on the podium in all four of them.
He also has a brilliant recent strike rate in the Middle East, amassing eight race wins from his last nine starts since 2008 across both Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
Whincup has won more races than any other driver in the championship in 2012 - eight - and a pair of pole positions on the Gold Coast has moved him to the top of the chase for the ARMOR ALL Pole Position Award, which he has won for the last four years straight.
2. The V8 Supercars Championship makes its return to Abu Dhabi this weekend after an absence of 20 months.
The last time the V8 Supercars visited the circuit was for the season-opener in early February 2011 with a pair of 200-kilometre races.
Held on the shorter 4.73-kilometre circuit, the first race was won by Jamie Whincup over Alex Davison (IRWIN Racing) and Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Steel FPR), while James Courtney won his first race for the Holden Racing Team in the second, clear of Jason Bright (Team BOC) and Whincup.
3. The format for the Abu Dhabi event is quite different from normal in the V8 Supercars Championship.
There will be three sprint races, each of 12 laps (65 kilometres), with two on Saturday and one on Sunday.
Each race is worth 100 championship points to the winner, though qualifying will be similar to the system
used last year at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth.
There will be a single 20-minute qualifying session on Friday afternoon (local time) with a drivers fastest lap time setting their grid position for Race 24 on Saturday morning, their second fastest lap for Race 25 later that morning and their third fastest lap for Race 26 on Sunday morning.
Drivers have 12 hard and 12 soft Dunlop tyres to use for the event with only hard tyres permitted in Race 24 and only soft tyres permitted in Races 25 and 26.
4. Five drivers are making their first V8 Supercars Championship start at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
They are Tim Blanchard (left, Jack Daniel's Racing), David Wall (Wilson Security Racing), Taz Douglas (Team iSelect), Michael Patrizi (Tekno Autosports) and the returning Alex Premat (Fujitsu Racing/GRM).
5. Two teams - Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing and Fujitsu Racing/GRM - have been forced to take spare cars to Abu Dhabi after major accidents at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600.
Kelly Racing has re-liveried the Dreamtime Racing Commodore used in the first four rounds of this year's Dunlop Series by Cameron Waters to become Karl Reindler's #11 Fair Dinkums Sheds car, while Garry Rogers' team have also wheeled out a spare chassis for returning Frenchman Alex Premat.
The car was raced by Michael Caruso over the last three seasons, including claiming his maiden victory in Darwin in 2009 and collecting third place in the '09 Bathurst 1000 in the hands of Caruso and Lee Holdsworth.
6. Russell Ingall will rack up a special career milestone in Abu Dhabi - his 500th Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercars Championship race start.
The 2005 V8 Supercar champion will bring up the '500' in Race 25 in Abu Dhabi (the second Saturday race) and remains the most experienced driver in the current field.
His 500th race start will come up in Ingall's 217th ATCC/V8SC event.
The Supercheap Auto Racing driver sits 12th in the V8 Supercars Championship, but has never had much luck in Abu Dhabi in his two previous trips in 2010 and 2011 with a 27th, 9th, 24th and DNF in the four races.
7. The battle for the V8 Supercars Champion Manufacturer award looks set to go down to the wire in 2012.
Holden is attempting to claim its third straight Champion Manufacturers crown and has a total of 13 race wins - all claimed by TeamVodafone - to Ford's 10 - all claimed by Ford Performance Racing.
The two dominant teams have claimed all 23 race wins this season and have a winning streak between them that now stands at an amazing 26 dating back to November 2011.
8. The Holden Racing Team's James Courtney has happy memories of the Yas Marina Circuit given he won the last V8 Supercar race there in February 2011.
He led 18 of the 43 laps in Race 2 last year in Abu Dhabi to hold off Jason Bright in a fuel economy duel to the line.
But the 2010 V8 Supercar champion has not been able to repeat the dose since - 49 V8 Supercar Championship races have come and gone since his last race victory.
It followed a disatrous full-time debut with HRT in the opening race of the season when he was penalised 50 championship points for contact with Jason Bargwanna - and thus started his title defence with a negative score!
Courtney has been a steady improver in this year's championship and now sits ninth in the pointscore, 21 points behind The Bottle-O Racing Team's David Reynolds.
9. Holden's VE Commodore is closing in on a special milestone in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercars Championship.
The VE and its current VE II model have won a record 97 ATCC/ V8SC races since it was debuted at the 2007 Clipsal 500 with victory in the hands of Todd Kelly and the Holden Racing Team, left.
Three more race wins will see it become the first model to hit 100 race wins in the history of the ATCC/V8SC - a clean sweep in Abu Dhabi would bring up the century.
10. Prior to this weekend's event in Abu Dhabi, there have been a total of 50 V8 Supercars Championship races held on foreign soil outside Australia.
Those races have been held since 2001 in New Zealand (Pukekohe and Hamilton), China (Shanghai), Bahrain and Abu Dhabi with the United States to be added next year with the Circuit of The Americas.
Jamie Whincup is the most successful driver with 12 race wins overseas clear of Greg Murphy (nine), Garth Tander (seven), Mark Skaife (five), Todd Kelly (four), Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom (three each).
The most successful team has been Triple Eight (13), clear of HRT and Kmart Racing/HSV Dealer Team (12 each), Ford Performance Racing and PWR Racing (five each), Stone Brothers Racing (two) and Kelly Racing (one)