The Melbourne SuperSprint (known for sponsorship reasons as the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint) 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 the

Albert Park Circuit The Albert Park Circuit is a motorsport street circuit around Albert Park and Lake, Albert Park Lake in the suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park in Melbourne. It is used annually as a circuit for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix, t ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

since

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. The 2018 edition was the first time that a championship round was contested at the circuit, after several years of supporting the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

as a non-championship event.

Format

The event is staged over a four-day weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, as a support category in the lead-up to the Australian Grand Prix. Two thirty-minute practice sessions, two fifteen-minute qualifying sessions to determine the starting grid for the first and second races, and the first 100 kilometre race are held on Thursday. The second 100 km race is then held on Friday before two further fifteen-minute qualifying sessions to determine the starting grid for the third and fourth races. The 100 km race three is held on Saturday and the 70 km race four is held on Sunday.

Larry Perkins Trophy

The driver who accumulates the most points across the four races receives the "

Larry Perkins Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia. Biography Early years Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Edd ...

Trophy", named in honour of the Supercars Hall of Fame inductee who also started eleven

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Grands Prix. The perpetual trophy was designed in collaboration between a student and senior lecturer at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

and was partly created using

3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

History

Supercars Championship 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 ...

have held non-championship events at the Australian Grand Prix dating back to its first appearance on the Formula One calendar in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. The support event, most recently known as the Supercars Challenge, was held in every year from 1985 to 2017 except 2007. After the demise of the event, the series finally attained championship status for the 2018 season. The inaugural event saw four different winners across the four races, including

Scott Pye Scott Robert Pye (born 8 January 1990) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently co-drives in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship, and co-drivers in the No. 87 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Triple Eight Race Engi ...

's first championship race win in a dramatic third race of the weekend. Pye had taken the lead early in the race, and was among the drivers to remain on slick tyres during a late-race shower. Despite a brief off-track moment in the changing conditions, Pye held on for a narrow victory, the first for

Walkinshaw Andretti United Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton, Victoria, Clayton. The team, initially branded as the Holden Racing Team, used to field Holden Commodores in the Supercars Championship befo ...

since the foreign investment in the team. One victory and three further podiums across the weekend saw

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 ...

take the overall event victory and the first Larry Perkins Trophy. In the event's second year,

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 ...

failed to win the event despite winning three of the four races across the weekend, including the 1,000th Australian Touring Car Championship race. In the other race, McLaughlin and

Cam Waters Cameron Christopher Waters (born 3 August 1994) is an Australian professional racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 6 Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. Waters last competed part-time in t ...

, who were first and second on the grid, clashed on the way to the grid, leaving both drivers out of the race. The race was won by

Chaz Mostert Chaz Michael Mostert (born 10 April 1992) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 25 Ford Mustang GT for Walkinshaw Andretti United. Mostert ...

, who also went on to win the round and the trophy. The 2020 event, along with the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, was cancelled on the Friday morning of the event 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 ...

. Two qualifying sessions had already been held the previous day. The event was included in the 2021 calendar, however was cancelled along with the Formula One round. The Grand Prix returned in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

to record crowds in Melbourne. The four races were shared equally between Mostert and

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 ...

, with the latter winning the trophy despite finishing the final race in 20th position due to a tyre failure. In 2023, Brodie Kostecki won his first two championship races at the event, as well as the event win, on the way to winning his first title. In 2024, Matthew Payne was involved in two incidents in two races whilst battling for the lead - one with Mostert and one with Waters. Will Brown won his second consecutive Larry Perkins Trophy in 2025, aided by an abandoned fourth race due to wet weather - a race in which Brown was to start 21st on the grid. In the weekend's second race, Cameron Hill won his first championship race in a one-two finish for Matt Stone Racing.

Winners

Multiple winners

By driver

By team

By manufacturer

Event names and sponsors

*2018:

Coates Hire Coates is an Australian equipment rental company operating in all Australian states and territories. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Seven Group Holdings. As of 2023, Coates is valued at A$1.87 billion of hire equipment at original cost. Hi ...

Melbourne 400 *2019–20, 2022: Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 *2023: Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint *2024–present: MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint

References

{{Supercars Championship Teams Australian Grand Prix Recurring sporting events established in 2018 Sports competitions in Melbourne Supercars Championship races 2018 establishments in Australia