THE Repco Supercars Championship heads to Winton for the next round and there are some interesting numbers to digest as we embark on (what we think!) will be the last round held there with the current generation of Supercar race cars.
An analysis of the podium finishers from the Winton rounds since ‘Car of the Future’ was introduced in 2013 makes for some very interesting reading.
Normally such a list at most other tracks would see Triple Eight sitting in either P1 or P2 on top or near the top of the order – but not the case when you look at Winton’s recent history.
The venue has not been a happy haven for Triple Eight since the introduction of the new era of cars, carding just a single race win at the Benalla venue (via Shane van Gisbergen in 2017) in that time.
In fact, Winton has been a huge Achilles heel for the Queensland team – Tickford, Walkinshaw, Brad Jones Racing and Kelly Racing – have all won more Winton races in the period than the Red Bull-backed squad.
Tickford Racing (under both its current and former FPR and PRA banners) has won more races at Winton in the period than any other team (five), narrowly in front of DJR/DJR Team Penske (four) and Brad Jones Racing (three).
All three teams have also scored more podiums at Winton in the ‘COTF’ era than Triple Eight.
And qualifying hasn’t been any kinder to Triple Eight with just one pole in that era – in fact it took the first pole at Winton in 2013 via Jamie Whincup and hasn’t had one since.
The team has qualified a car on the front row of the grid at Winton just once since then – Whincup qualified second for the Sunday race in 2017.
What does it all mean?
It means that Red Bull Ampol Racing’s rivals should see the Winton round as the perfect opportunity to bite back a chunk of points from van Gisbergen and Whincup.
But then again, history is made to be re-written, and if there’s a team that can turn it around after all this time, you’d have to say it’s the boys and girls from Banyo …
THE PODIUM BREAKDOWN – WINTON (2013-2019)
| TEAM | WINS | SECONDS | THIRDS | TOTAL |
| Tickford (PRA/FPR) | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| DJR/DJR Team Penske | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Brad Jones Racing | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Triple Eight | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Kelly Racing | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Walkinshaw Racing/WAU | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Erebus Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| TEKNO Autosports | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Garry Rogers Motorsport | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Note: No Winton round held in 2020. |
