The Ipswich Super 440 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440) is the current name for the annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich, Queensland. The event has been a semi-regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous incarnations, the Shell Championship Series and V8 Supercars Championship—from 1999, with a hiatus between 2020 and 2024.
Format The event is staged over a three-day weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Four thirty-minute practice sessions are held, two on Friday and one each on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday features a three-stage knockout qualifying session which decides the grid positions for the following 120 kilometre sprint race. Sunday features a repeat of the Saturday qualifying format with a longer 200 km race distance following.
History
Queensland Raceway opened in 1999 and immediately joined the championship calendar, taking over from Lakeside Raceway as the home of the series in Queensland. In 1999 and 2000 the event hosted both a sprint round and the Queensland 500 endurance event, the first circuit to host multiple rounds in one year since Lakeside held two rounds in 1991. In the inaugural sprint event, Garth Tander scored his first career round win despite not winning a race during the weekend. He was originally declared the winner of the third race when John Bowe was disqualified for passing under a yellow flag, but Bowe was later reinstated in the results. The sprint event was dropped for 2001 with only the endurance event remaining on the calendar.
The 500-kilometre Supercars endurance race returned to Sandown Raceway in 2003 and Queensland Raceway returned to hosting a sprint round of the championship. In the aftermath of the 2004 event, round winner Marcos Ambrose was disqualified due to the discovery of an additional wire in the ECU wiring loom. The points were later reinstated on appeal. Jason Richards had a major accident during the 2005 event, after a touch from Paul Morris sent Richards' car over a kerb and into a series of rollovers. Garth Tander dominated the event in 2006 and 2007, winning five of the six races across the two years, before Mark Winterbottom won consecutive events in 2008, at which James Courtney won his first championship race, and 2009.
Craig Lowndes won five consecutive races at the event across 2011 and 2012, while Chaz Mostert won his first championship race during the 2013 event. Lowndes went on to win the event again in 2014 and 2016 to leave him with a record seven event wins at the circuit, six sprint rounds and the 2000 Queensland 500. Queensland Raceway was not included on the calendar for the 2020 Supercars Championship, the first year the circuit was not included, as either a sprint or endurance event, since it was opened in 1999.
The circuit was later considered for a substitute place on both the 2020 and 2021 calendars due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, however in both years the plan did not come to fruition. Eventually, after new ownership and various upgrades to facilities, the event was announced as returning to the calendar for 2025.
Winners Year Driver Team Car Report 1999 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden VS Commodore 2000 Craig Lowndes Holden Racing Team Holden VT Commodore 2001–2002 not held 2003 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford BA Falcon 2004 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford BA Falcon 2005 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford BA Falcon 2006 Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team Holden VZ Commodore 2007 Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team Holden VE Commodore Report 2008 Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford BF Falcon Report 2009 Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon Report 2010 James Courtney Dick Johnson Racing Ford FG Falcon Report 2011 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VE Commodore Report 2012 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VE Commodore Report 2013 Mark Winterbottom Ford Performance Racing Ford FG Falcon Report 2014 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore Report 2015 Mark Winterbottom Prodrive Racing Australia Ford FG X Falcon Report 2016 Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore Report 2017 Chaz Mostert Rod Nash Racing Ford FG X Falcon Report 2018 Shane van Gisbergen Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden ZB Commodore Report 2019 Scott McLaughlin DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang GT 2020–2024 not held 2025 Broc Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-1LE 2026 Brodie Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT
Notes – In 1999 and 2000, Queensland Raceway also hosted a second championship round, the Queensland 500.
Multiple winners By driver Wins Driver Years 6 Craig Lowndes 2000, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 4 Mark Winterbottom 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015 3 Garth Tander 1999, 2006, 2007
By team Wins Team 7 Triple Eight Race Engineering 4 Prodrive Racing Australia 3 Dick Johnson Racing2 Stone Brothers Racing HSV Dealer Team
By manufacturer Wins Manufacturer 11 Ford 9 Holden
Notes – Prodrive Racing Australia was known as Ford Performance Racing from 2003 to 2014, hence their statistics are combined. – Dick Johnson Racing was known as DJR Team Penske from 2014 to 2020, hence their statistics are combined.
Event names and sponsors 1999–2000, 2004: Queensland Raceway 2003: BigPond 300 2005, 2007: Queensland 300 2006: BigPond 400 2008: City of Ipswich 400 2009: Queensland House and Land.com 300 2010: City of Ipswich 300 2011–12: Coates Hire Ipswich 300 2013: Coates Hire Ipswich 360 2014: Coates Hire Ipswich 400 2015: Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint 2016–18: Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint 2019: Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint 2025–26: Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440
See also Queensland 500 List of Australian Touring Car Championship races
References