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Tasmania SuperSprint

Tasmania Tasmania SuperSprint
Symmons Plains Raceway (Australia) track map.svg
Race Information
Venue Symmons Plains Raceway
Number of times held 44
First held 1969
Race Format
Race 1
Laps 50
Distance 120 km
Race 2
Laps 84
Distance 200 km
Last Event (2016)
Overall Winner
Australia Will Davison Tekno Autosports
Race Winners
New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering
Australia Will Davison Tekno Autosports

The Tasmania SuperSprint (formally known as the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Symmons Plains Raceway in Launcestion, Tasmania. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Australian Touring Car Championship, Shell Championship Series and V8 Supercars Championship—since 1969. The event was not held from 2000 to 2003 and the circuit received a A$3 million upgrade during this period.

The event is staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two one-hour practice sessions are held on Friday while a fifteen-minute practice session is held on Saturday. Saturday features a fifteen-minute qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre sprint race. A single twenty-minute qualifying session is held on Sunday to decide the grid for the following 200 km race.

When the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) was first held over a series of race in 1969, Symmons Plains was included on the calendar as the final race of the series. The race would decide the championship that year, as Alan Hamilton could take the title from Ian Geoghegan if he won the race and Geoghegan failed to score. Geoghegan's car failed to start at the one-minute signal and his pit crew push started the car. This was not allowed under the regulations of the time and Geoghegan was disqualified. Hamilton ended up finishing the race in second place behind Norm Beechey, losing the title to Geoghegan by a single point.

After again hosting the final round in 1970, Symmons Plains became the home of the opening round, hosting the first event of the ATCC every year from 1971 to 1981. Allan Moffat and Peter Brock were the most successful drivers at the event in this period, taking seven of the eleven possible victories between them. John Harvey scored his two ATCC victories at the event, winning in 1976 and 1979.Dick Johnson joined Moffat as the only two drivers to win three consecutive rounds at the circuit.


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Wikipedia

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