Darwin Triple Crown
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The Darwin Triple Crown (formally known as the Betr Darwin Triple Crown) is 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
Hidden Valley Raceway Hidden Valley Raceway is part of the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex, located at 171 Hidden Valley Road, Hidden Valley, from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex includes a 1 km drag racing track ...
in Darwin, Northern Territory. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, 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 ...
,
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
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
.


Format

The event is held over three days, from Friday to Sunday. On Friday, two thirty-minute practice sessions are held. On Saturday, a three-part knock-out qualifying session is then held, determining the grid for the 100 kilometre race to follow. Sunday features two fifteen-minute qualifying sessions that set the grid for each of the day's two 100 km races. The event has been known as the Triple Crown since 2006, which originally referred to the three races in the weekend format of the time. Currently, the title refers to the two races during the event and the first qualifying session. The Triple Crown remained elusive until
Scott McLaughlin Scott Thomas McLaughlin (; born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won the driver ...
was fastest in the top ten shootout and won both races in
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
. From 2020, the Triple Crown trophy was awarded to the driver that scored the most points across the weekend.


History

Hidden Valley Raceway had existed for several years prior to being upgraded for its first national championship event in 1998, a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC).
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 ...
had been on course to take victory in the opening race when an engine issue on the final lap allowed teammate
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 ...
past, with Skaife finishing 2nd. Lowndes' car then failed to fire prior to the start of the second race and both he and Skaife failed to make the grid, leaving the front row empty.
Russell Ingall Russell Peter Ingall (born 24 February 1964 in London, England) is a former full-time Australian V8 Supercar driver. He won his V8 Supercars title in 2005, and finished second in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2004. Ingall has also won the Bathurst 100 ...
, who had a stop-go penalty in the first race for spinning
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 ...
, charged from 13th on the grid to take victory and went on to win the inaugural round with another win in race three of the weekend. In 1999, Bright took his first career round win in what was Ford's only round win of the year. It was also the first round win for
Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones (racing driver), Alan J ...
, who saw further success at the event in 2001 when
Marcos Ambrose Marcos Ross Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian former racing driver and current Garry Rogers Motorsport competition director. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series, 2003 and ...
scored his first round win, despite not winning a race over the weekend. In 2004, Ambrose made contact while attempting to overtake Skaife for the lead on the final corner of the race, delaying both and granting victory to Ambrose's teammate Ingall. In the following race, Ambrose then spun Ingall off on the first corner of the race.
Todd Kelly Todd Evan Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Supercars Championship, Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst ...
went on to win the round, his first of two consecutive event wins. Michael Caruso took his first Supercars race win at the event in 2009, holding off a late charge from
Alex Davison Alexander Davison (born 3 November 1979) is a Auto racing, racing driver from Australia. He was the 2004 Australian Carrera Cup Championship, 2004 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion. Junior career Starting in karts at a young age, he prog ...
. At a late
safety car In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a ''caution period,'' such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the ...
restart in the first race of the 2011 event, the top four tangled into turn one, allowing fifth-placed
Rick Kelly Rick Kelly (born 17 January 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver who previously competed in the Supercars Championship. He last drove the No. 15 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Kelly Racing. Previously, he dro ...
to take the race win. In 2013
Jonathon Webb Jonathon Stephen Webb (born 10 December 1983) is an Australian former professional racing driver and team owner of Team Sydney, who once co-drove alongside Fabian Coulthard in the No. 19 Holden ZB Commodore for the Pirtek Enduro Cup. In 2016, ...
, driving for his family team
Tekno Autosports Tekno Autosports was an Australian motor racing team, established in the 1990s initially for the motor racing activities of Stephen Webb, and later his son Jonathon Webb. The team competed in the Supercars Championship using two Holden ZB Commo ...
, won his first career round. At the 2015 event, Lowndes became the first to achieve 100 race wins in ATCC and Supercars, capitalising on a collision between Rick Kelly and
Fabian Coulthard Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship, who will drive as an endurance co-driver for Nick Percat with Walkinshaw ...
on the opening lap. In 2016, Caruso provided
Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...
with their first round victory since
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
. At the same event,
Lee Holdsworth Lee Robert Holdsworth (born 2 February 1983) is an Australian semi-retired racing driver. He won the 2021 Bathurst 1000 alongside Chaz Mostert and finished his full-time career after the 2022 season, after nearly two decades of racing. Histor ...
suffered a broken pelvis in a first lap accident, forcing him out of the next three events. From 2017 to 2019,
Scott McLaughlin Scott Thomas McLaughlin (; born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won the driver ...
became the first driver to win three consecutive events in Darwin. Most notably, this included McLaughlin becoming the first driver to win the Triple Crown in 2019, qualifying fastest in the top ten shootout (albeit only by a margin of under two hundredths of a second) and winning both races for
DJR Team Penske Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske) is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. Founded by Dick Johnson, the team's drivers have won ten Australian Touring Car Championship titles (five of the ...
. The Triple Crown was again awarded in 2020 but only due to a change in criteria which saw the trophy guaranteed to be awarded to the round winner.
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 ...
tied for points with Fabian Coulthard but won the trophy on countback, meanwhile
Anton de Pasquale Anton De Pasquale (born 14 September 1995) is an Australian motor racing driver. He currently drives the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Team 18 in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship. He briefly raced in various Formula R ...
won his first championship race in the first race of the weekend. In addition to the Triple Crown, Hidden Valley hosted a second event in consecutive weeks, known as the Darwin SuperSprint, as part of the calendar changes caused by 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 ...
. In 2021, it was announced the event would become the championship's
Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...
Round, with some teams running special liveries for the event. Over the weekend, the event also incorporated
Superbikes Superbike racing is a category of motorcycle racing that employs highly modified production motorcycles, as opposed to MotoGP in which purpose-built motorcycles are used. The Superbike World Championship is the official world championship series, ...
and
drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...
with Supercars, for the first time since the Winfield Triple Challenge events at
Sydney Motorsport Park Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a motorsport circuit located on Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek (40-kilometres west of the Sydney CBD), New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the Western ...
in the early 1990s. In 2025, the rules again changed to guarantee the award of the Triple Crown - however
Broc Feeney Broc Feeney (born 18 October 2002) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Repco Supercars Championship for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He inherited Jamie Whincup's No. 88 Holden ZB Commodore (now Chevrolet Camaro ZL1) following ...
won all three races and took three pole positions to win the award by both the existing and new definition.


Winners

;Notes: * – Hidden Valley Raceway hosted two events of the
2020 Supercars Championship The 2020 Supercars Championship (known for commercial reasons as the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship) was a motor racing series for Supercars. It was the twenty-second running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-fourth seri ...
, Rounds 5 and 6, in consecutive weekends.


Multiple winners


By driver


By team


By manufacturer

;Notes * – Walkinshaw Andretti United was known as Holden Racing Team from 1990 to 2016, hence their statistics are combined. * – Dick Johnson Racing was known as DJR Team Penske from 2015 to 2020, hence their statistics are combined. * – Prodrive Racing Australia was known as Ford Performance Racing from 2003 to 2014, hence their statistics are combined.


Event names and sponsors

* 1998–2004: Hidden Valley * 2005: Skycity V8 Supercars * 2006–15: Skycity Triple Crown * 2016–18:
CrownBet BetEasy (formerly known as CrownBet and BetEzy) was an Australian corporate bookmaker offering online sports and racing betting platforms. BetEasy was licensed in the Northern Territory and owned by The Stars Group. BetEasy was the official wa ...
Darwin Triple Crown * 2019–20:
BetEasy BetEasy (formerly known as CrownBet and BetEzy) was an Australian corporate bookmaker offering online sports and racing betting platforms. BetEasy was licensed in the Northern Territory and owned by The Stars Group. BetEasy was the official wa ...
Darwin Triple Crown * 2020: CoreStaff Darwin SuperSprint * 2021–22:
Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
Darwin Triple Crown * 2023–25: Betr Darwin Triple Crown


See also

*
List of Australian Touring Car Championship races The list of Australian Touring Car Championship Races is a list of all the races or rounds which have been held in the combined 63-year history of the Australian Touring Car Championship, V8 Supercars Championship, and Supercars Championship. As ...


References

{{V8 Supercar Teams Supercars Championship races Recurring sporting events established in 1998 Sport in Darwin, Northern Territory Motorsport in the Northern Territory 1998 establishments in Australia