Cara Jenkin ranks the Adelaide 500’s top-10 greatest Supercar drivers
Many drivers have raced the Adelaide 500 in the past 21 years. Cara Jenkin rates the best to grace the street circuit. Do you agree? Have your say in our poll.
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The Adelaide 500 has thrilled motor racing fans in South Australia since Craig Lowndes went from last to first in the very first event, held in 1999.
Since then, 12 drivers have kissed the trophy and had the winners wreath awkwardly placed around their necks, casting aside blistering heat, torrential rain and the notorious Turn 8 in the process.
We rate the top 10 drivers to have conquered the concrete jungle that makes up the Adelaide street circuit.
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10 MARCUS AMBROSE
The former NASCAR driver didn’t stay long in Supercars, but achieved enormous success on the Adelaide 500 track for his time in the series.
He finished third in the Saturday race in just his second season in touring cars in 2002, then in the following year, took the Saturday race win.
In 2004 and 2005 he took a clean sweep, winning all four races, before he left the country to compete in the US.
Who knows what he could have accomplished in Adelaide if he had stuck around – but no doubt has no regrets over his decision to leave.
9 MARK SKAIFE
The Holden Racing Team driver is one of only six drivers to take multiple Adelaide 500 titles, winning in 2002 and 2003.
In all he won four races – both in 2002, and one that counts (Sunday) in 2003, and he crossed the line first in the Sunday race of 2000, although that was the one year the Sunday race winner was not granted the title.
He also notched up two other podium placings and two pole positions, before he ended his career in 2008, after the 10th Adelaide 500 was held.
8 GARTH TANDER
One of two drivers to compete in the most Adelaide 500s (20), Garth Tander is the only driver to have won the title, without winning a race the year he did it.
It was the only year in which the title was given to the driver that accumulated the most points across the weekend, and despite taking pole position that year, his only podium place was second on the Sunday.
He did win one other title, in 2010, after taking both the Saturday and Sunday races.
In total he won three races, scored 8 podium placings, and three pole positions.
7 JASON BRIGHT
Bright only won one Adelaide 500 title with his one Sunday race win in 2001, but also took the very first pole position in 1999.
However, he will be most remembered for the most spectacular crash ever at the Adelaide street circuit, in 2014, when his Team BOC Commodore flew up to be almost vertical in the air before landing on its roof in the chicane.
Bright walked away from the crash, although his car was certainly wrecked.
During his career, he gained another pole position at the track, and three podium placings.
6 NICK PERCAT
It takes more than speed to win at motorsport, with strategy and controlling the car no matter what the conditions also important.
The homegrown Supercar driver has never had a pole position, nor a podium place, and only one race win, but he sure timed it to perfection.
It was 2016, dubbed ‘Slipsal’ by many, because of the torrential rain which appeared out of nowhere at the end of another hot weekend.
Not only did Percat manage the horrifically slippery conditions to keep his fast car out of the fence, he and his team read the rule book, and dumped the right amount of fuel in the car in the right number of pit stops, to strategise their way to a surprising yet well-played victory.
Other teams may have sulked about it, but they were outperformed by a strategic masterpiece.
He remains the only South Australian driver to claim the Adelaide 500 title.
5 SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN
Last year’s Adelaide 500 champion had the crowd at the circuit cheering their loudest, for someone who came second, back in 2014, when Volvo competed in its first Supercars event.
Despite Craig Lowndes winning the second of two races held on a Saturday that year, it was the fight for second place that had fans cheering for the youngster to beat Jamie Whincup to the line after being neck-and-neck at the last corner.
McLaughlin won both races held in 2019 despite 40C temperatures in the car, his only two race wins.
In 2020, he looks like the driver to beat.
4 CRAIG LOWNDES
The driver with the most podium placings – nine in total, achieved in both Ford and Holden race cars – also has the second-highest number of race wins (7) but only one Adelaide 500 title.
He won the first event in 1999, when cars stacked the grid right back through into the hairpin, with the field made up of privateers as well as professional drivers.
He only achieved two pole positions during his 20 years competing at the event, and tied with the largest number of race starts with Garth Tander.
He is largely remembered as coming from last to first to win the race, but he was not the only driver to do so, with Mark Skaife achieving the same thing in 2000.
3 JAMES COURTNEY
The Adelaide 500 is James Courtney’s favourite event, most likely because of the number of times he has sprayed champagne on the podium.
He has stood up there a total of eight times, and on the top step a further three times, on his way to two successive Adelaide 500 titles in 2014 and 2015.
He also has two pole positions at the track, which he describes as being located in a “Holden town, so Holden has to win”.
We’re not biased but if anyone deserves to get a podium place in this list, it is one of the few drivers that rate it better than Bathurst.
2 SHANE VAN GISBERGEN
The New Zealander has made the Adelaide street circuit home in recent years, despite his complete hate of the South Australian heat.
Shane van Gisbergen controversially quit the sport in 2012 only to be lured back into it days before the 2013 season started, by the Tekno Autosports team – and bang, he won the first title of the year at the Adelaide 500.
He went on to win two more titles in succession – in 2017 and 2018 – with an overall five race wins to his name, and six podium placings.
He also holds the equal highest number of pole positions, at seven.
1 JAMIE WHINCUP
The record speaks for itself.
The largest number of pole positions (7), the equal second highest number of podium placings (8), the biggest number of wins (10) and the greatest number of Adelaide 500 titles (4) makes Jamie Whincup the greatest Adelaide 500 driver to compete at the event.
He won his first in 2006 in his first weekend racing with Triple Eight Race Engineering and despite a few hiccups over the years – including a mess up at Turn 8 in qualifying in 2018 and a DNF the same year – he has consistently set the benchmark.
If 2020 is to be his last year racing in Supercars, expect him to come out swinging to win his last title.
Originally published as Cara Jenkin ranks the Adelaide 500’s top-10 greatest Supercar drivers