The Auckland SuperSprint was an annual

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

event for

Supercars A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

, held at

Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe Park Raceway was a former car racing track that was situated on the outside of the Pukekohe Park Thoroughbred Racetrack, located in the surrounds of Pukekohe. The Raceway was opened in 1963 as a permanent track, replacing Ardmore Ae ...

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The town is located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Puke ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The event was a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the

Shell Championship Series The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

and V8 Supercars Championship—since

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. The event was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Supercars returned to New Zealand and the Pukekoke Park Raceway circuit on September 10–11 for Round 10 of the 2022 season.

Format

The event was staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Two thirty-minute practice sessions were held, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Saturday featured a three-part qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre race. Two separated ten-minute qualifying sessions were held on Sunday, which decided the grid for the following 120 km races.

Jason Richards Memorial Trophy

Since 2013, the driver who scored the most points across all races during the weekend has received the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy. The trophy was introduced at the 2013 event in honour of Jason Richards, a one-time New Zealand Supercars race winner and Supercars Hall of Fame member who died of cancer in 2011.

History

Background

Pukehohe Park was one of New Zealand's most historic race tracks, and has long seen links with Australian motor racing. This dates back to the famed

Pukekohe 500 The Pukekohe 500 was an endurance motor racing event first held in 1963 at Pukekohe Park Raceway, Pukekohe, New Zealand. History The Pukekohe 500 had its origins in the Wills Six-Hour race that was first held in 1963 as a production car race, ...

, which originally ran from 1984 to 1993 for touring cars and dates back to 1963 for production cars. Several Australian teams, along with local and international teams, competed in the endurance

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

event with Australian-based teams winning the event several times. The event was often twinned with the

Wellington 500 The Wellington 500 was a street circuit, street race for touring car racing, touring cars which took place at Wellington City in Wellington, New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1987 event was a round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship ...

, on a street circuit in

Wellington City Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

. In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, twelve cars from the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the troph ...

raced in the Mobil 1 Sprints, a two event series at Pukekohe and Wellington. In a precursor to his later Supercars success at the track, all three races were won by local driver Greg Murphy for the Holden Racing Team.

Championship era

The first championship round at Pukekohe Park for what was then known as

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

was held in

, entitled the

Boost Mobile DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the List of mobile network operators in the United States, fourth largest wirele ...

V8 International. It was the first round in the history of the

and Supercars not to be contested in Australia.

Mark Skaife Mark Stephen Skaife (born 3 April 1967) is an Australian former racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the Supercars Championship, V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, a ...

sealed the 2001 Shell Championship Series in the first race, while Greg Murphy won the event, taking pole position and winning all three races for the Kmart Racing Team. Murphy maintained strong form at Pukekohe, winning again in 2002, 2003 and 2005. The 2002 event contained the 500th race in championship history, which was won by Skaife.

Jason Bright Jason Paul Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Supercars Championship, Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford Falcon (FG X), Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a ...

was the only other driver to win the event in the first five years, doing so in 2004, while Murphy finished third. In 2005 there was a major accident involving

Craig Baird Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Australians, Australian Supercars Championship. Honours In the 2010 New Year Honours (New Zealand), 2010 New Year ...

and

Paul Dumbrell Paul Lakeland Dumbrell (born 1 September 1982) is an Australian business executive and retired racing driver. Racing history Junior career Son of former racing driver Garry Dumbrell, Paul Dumbrell started racing in karts in 1996 and by the en ...

during the third race.

Jamie Whincup Jamie David Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Ho ...

slid off the track at the final corner and Baird and Dumbrell squeezed together as Whincup returned to the circuit. However, Baird and Dumbrell came together and spun, both hitting the wall before coming to rest on opposite sides of the track with severely damaged cars. The race was red flagged as a result.

Hiatus

The New Zealand event moved to the

Hamilton Street Circuit The Hamilton Street Circuit was a temporary street circuit in Hamilton, New Zealand. From 2008 to 2012 it hosted the Hamilton 400 as part of the V8 Supercars championship. From 2010 to 2012, ITM, New Zealand's largest group of independent tr ...

for 2008 and remained there until 2012.

Return

Supercars returned to a slightly modified Pukekohe layout in 2013 and the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy was introduced.

and Brad Jones Racing, Richards' last teammate and team respectively, were the first winners of the trophy. In 2014, Ford's

Mark Winterbottom Mark James "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian former professional racing driver. He last competed in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Team 18. His career ...

was the event winner, marking the first win at the event for Ford in its ninth running. The event was run over the

Anzac Day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and ...

long weekend, including a race on a Friday for the first time in championship history. In 2015 and 2017,

, who was a teammate of Jason Richards in 2005 at Tasman Motorsport and co-drove with him to a second-place finish at the 2005 Bathurst 1000, won the trophy. In 2016,

Shane van Gisbergen Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989), also known by his initials SVG, is a New Zealand professional auto racing, racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, C ...

became the first New Zealand driver to win the trophy. In 2018, championship combatants van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin each took a first and second in the two races, with McLaughlin winning the event on a countback due to his higher Sunday result. The same two drivers won races in the 2019 event, which moved to a September date, with van Gisbergen this time winning the trophy. In winning the Sunday race, which included a controversial safety car that shuffled the field, McLaughlin surpassed

Craig Lowndes Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing car driver in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship racing for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator. Lowndes is a three-time V8 Superca ...

record of 16 wins in a season.

2020 move and cancellation

As in 2013, the 2020 Pukekohe event was scheduled on the Anzac Day weekend. It was later discovered that an amendment to

Auckland Council Auckland Council () is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to t ...

's Unitary Plan in the intermediary period prohibited racing on the public holiday. As such the event was to be moved to the nearby

Hampton Downs Motorsport Park The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club. History The motorsport park i ...

, and was to continue to be known as the Auckland Super400 despite being located in the neighbouring

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

region. The event was later postponed, rescheduled to January 2021 (within the prolonged 2020 championship) and then cancelled altogether - all due to the

. The 2021 event was similarly cancelled due to the border issues arising from the pandemic.

Venue Change

On 20 July 2022 it was confirmed that

will cease motorsport activities from 2 April 2023.Pukekohe Park Raceway cease Motorsport Activities
Speedcafe.com 20 July 2022

Winners

''Events which were not championship rounds are indicated by a pink background.''

Multiple winners

By driver

''Wins which did not count towards the championship season are indicated by a pink background.''

By team

By manufacturer

;Notes * – The HSV Dealer Team was known as Kmart Racing Team from 2001 to 2004, hence their statistics are combined.

Event names and sponsors

* 1996:

Mobil 1 Mobil 1 is a brand of synthetic motor oil and other automotive lubrication products. Originally developed by the Mobil oil company, it is now globally marketed and sold by ExxonMobil. Mobil 1 engine oil was introduced in 1973. The brand range no ...

Sprints * 2001–02:

V8 International * 2003–05:

PlaceMakers PlaceMakers is the trading name of Fletcher Distribution Limited, the retail trading arm of Fletcher Building in New Zealand. PlaceMakers also manufactures wall frames, roof trusses and structural components at various frame and truss operation ...

V8 International * 2006–07: PlaceMakers V8 Supercars * 2013: ITM 400 Auckland * 2014–15: ITM 500 Auckland * 2016–19, 2022: ITM Auckland SuperSprint

References

{{Reflist Supercars Championship races Auto races in New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 2001 Recurring events disestablished in 2007 Recurring sporting events established in 2013