10 Fast Facts: Merlin Darwin Triple Crown

1) New Zealanders have dominated the winners list in the recent past at Hidden Valley, given they have won 12 of the last 16 races held in Darwin. Current Repco Supercars Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen has won three in that time while Scott McLaughlin won eight races and his then-teammate Fabian Coulthard won one.

2) Shell V-Power Racing Team driver Will Davison celebrates a major milestone in Darwin as he’s set to start his 500th Supercars Championship race in the Saturday race. He will become just the 10th driver to achieve the feat.

3) This year’s round at Hidden Valley is the 26th time that the Supercars Championship has held a round at the Darwin circuit. A total of 67 championship races have been held since the event debuted on the calendar in 1998.

4) Mark Skaife and Scott McLaughlin hold the record for the most race wins at Hidden Valley (eight), Garth Tander holds the record for most race starts at the circuit (56), McLaughlin holds the record for most poles at the circuit (seven) and Jamie Whincup holds the record for the most podiums (17).

5) Fords have taken 9 of the last 11 pole positions in Darwin dating back to 2019 and all of them have been taken by DJR Team Penske/DJR. Scott McLaughlin took both poles in 2019, four of the six poles in 2020 across the back-to-back rounds and Anton De Pasquale (one) and Will Davison (two) shared the poles at last year’s round.

6) Hidden Valley holds the record for the closest pole-winning margin timed to more than one decimal place in the history of the ATCC/Supercars Championship. Alex Davison beat Jamie Whincup to pole position for the Sunday race in 2010 by just 0.0002s.

7) Three drivers are making their first Hidden Valley Supercars Championship start – Jayden Ojeda, Zak Best and Broc Feeney. The round is wildcard Best’s debut as a solo driver at a Repco Supercars Championship round given he was a co-driver for Tickford Racing at last year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.

8) The second Sunday race is set to be Tickford Racing’s 600th Supercars Championship race. The team, then known as Ford Performance Racing, debuted in the opening round of the 2003 championship at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

9) The first Sunday race is set to be Andre Heimgartner’s 200th Supercars Championship race start. The R&J Batteries Commodore driver is in his first season with Brad Jones Racing as a full-time driver and will become the 45th driver in championship history to start 200 races.

10) No driver has ever won a Hidden Valley Supercars Championship race starting seventh on the grid. The only other position in the top 10 that a driver has not won from in Darwin is ninth.

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