Feeney's chance to join greats in Adelaide

A legendarily tough event, the VAILO Adelaide 500 is as tough as they come to win — and only a small selection of greats have managed to do it twice in a row.

Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney, who won the return event last December, is the latest driver armed with the chance to go back-to-back.

Feeney denied Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert a dream sweep last year to claim his first Supercars race win, and the last for the famed Holden brand.

If Feeney can lead the field to the chequered flag in Race 28, the final race of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, he will join illustrious company.

Mark Skaife’s 2003 win made the Holden legend the first driver to win consecutive Adelaide 500 crowns, after Craig Lowndes (1999), Garth Tander (2000) and Jason Bright (2001) all failed to back up their wins.

Marcos Ambrose (2004-05) and Jamie Whincup (2008-09) were quick to join Skaife in the ‘back-to-back’ club. Stone Brothers Racing Ford star Ambrose, who won four races straight between 2004 and 2005, could have won three straight after winning Race 1 in 2003, and ran third in Race 2 before ultimately retiring due to a suspension issue.

James Courtney emerged as an Adelaide star during his run with the Holden Racing Team, winning in three straight events. However, he is only credited with overall wins in 2014 and 2015 after winning on Sunday, while he won a Saturday sprint in 2016 — his most recent Supercars win.

Kiwi stars Shane van Gisbergen (2017-18) and Scott McLaughlin (2019-20) combined to win four straight Adelaide 500s, before Feeney won last year’s event.

Feeney is one of 12 drivers to win the Adelaide 500, and one of five one-time winners along with Craig Lowndes (1999), Jason Bright (2001), Rick Kelly (2007) and Will Davison (2012).

The Adelaide 500 has a unique format in that the winner of the Sunday race is regarded as the overall winner, regardless of total points scored over the weekend.

There was an exception to the rule in 2000, when Garth Tander was credited with the win despite Skaife winning the Sunday race.

In all but five events, the Sunday race winner was also the highest points scorer for the weekend. Todd Kelly scored the most points in 2007 after winning the Saturday race, as did Mostert last year. Meanwhile, Lowndes topped the point score in 2013 and 2014.

Then, there’s Michael Caruso, who left Adelaide the surprise championship leader after the 2016 round, with Whincup, Courtney and Nick Percat sharing the wins on a dramatic weekend.

Repco Supercars Championship action will commence at the VAILO Adelaide 500 on Thursday November 23.

Back-to-back Adelaide 500 winners