The 2016 Wilson Security Sandown 500 was a motor racing event for Supercars, held from 16 to 18 September 2016 at the Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and consisted of one race of 445 kilometres in length. It was the tenth event of fourteen in the 2016 International V8 Supercars Championship and hosted Race 20 of the season. It was also the first event of the 2016 Pirtek Enduro Cup. The event was the 46th running of the Sandown 500.
The race was scheduled to be run over a distance of 161 laps (500 km), however the race was shortened to 143 laps after an opening lap crash involving James Golding caused damage to a tyre barrier. The race was stopped in order for repairs to be carried out on the tyre barrier. The shortening of the race was per V8 Supercars regulations that call for the race to end 3 hours, 30 minutes after the start. The race, which featured mixed conditions due to intermittent showers during the afternoon, was won by the Holden Racing Team pairing of Garth Tander and Warren Luff, three tenths of a second clear of the car of Shane van Gisbergen and Alexandre Prémat. Will Davison and Jonathon Webb completed the podium. The pole-sitting car of Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell finished 13th after receiving a drive-through penalty for a pit stop infringement.
Report Background The event was the 46th running of the Sandown 500, which was first held in 1964 as a six-hour race for series production touring cars. It was the twelfth time the race had been held as part of the Supercars Championship and the fourth time it formed part of the Enduro Cup. The defending winners of the race were Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen.
The event was promoted as a "retro round", with teams encouraged to use adaptations of Australian touring car liveries from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, although some teams extended beyond these parameters when devising a livery. The following cars carried a retro livery during the event: 8: Brad Jones Racing - Cooper Tools livery used by the team in Auscar in the early 1990s 14: Brad Jones Racing - based on the pattern used for the Holden Dealer Racing Team in the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 although with current sponsors colours, the cars had no resemblance to each other 17: DJR Team Penske - Shell Helix livery used by the team in 2003 and 2004 23: Nissan Motorsport - livery used by the class-winning Datsun 1300 in the 1966 Gallaher 500 33 and 34: Garry Rogers Motorsport - livery used by the championship-winning Volvo Dealer Team in 1986 55: Rod Nash Racing - Supercheap Auto livery used by Steven Ellery Racing in 2002 : DJR Team Penske - based on the livery of Team Penske's 1972 Indianapolis 500-winning car : Erebus Motorsport - based on Penrite branding used from the 1950s to the 1980s 96: Nissan Motorsport - GB Galvanizing livery used in Australian NASCAR in 1997 222: Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport - Phil Munday's Panel Works livery used on dirt Late Model cars in the 1970s 888: Triple Eight Race Engineering - Caltex livery used by Colin Bond Racing in the early 1990s
A number of teams also dressed their members in period clothing.
Changes were made to the race regulations, with the soft compound tyre being used in the race for the first time and the number of compulsory pit stops being reduced from four to three. The requirement for cars to make four compulsory pit stops had been introduced for the 2013 race, when the engines used by Nissan Motorsport and Erebus Motorsport (which was then running Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs) struggled to match the fuel economy of the Ford and Holden engines. With Erebus Motorsport switching to Holden VF Commodores for the 2016 season and Nissan Motorsport improving the performance of its engines, the decision was made to reduce the number of compulsory pit stops. Nissan Motorsport were unconcerned by the change, with team owner and driver Todd Kelly saying: "We have gone ahead in leaps and bounds in economy since the four stops were implemented – everyone has...If we were worried about it we would have put something up to the commission, which we haven’t done."
A new FIA regulation saw changes made to the seat belts used in the cars. Previously, elastic straps had been used to keep the seat belts out of the way during driver changes. An investigation by the FIA found that the elastic straps could cause the seat belts to slip in a frontal impact, increasing the risk of injury to the driver. As a result, Supercars mandated that the elastic straps be removed. During test days prior to the event, teams found that the removal of the elastic straps increased the time required for a driver change, noting that this could have an impact during pit stops with a short refuelling time.
Jamie Whincup entered the event as the championship leader, 137 points ahead of his teammate Shane van Gisbergen, with the third Triple Eight driver, Lowndes, a further 61 points behind in third. Garth Tander and Warren Luff were the defending Enduro Cup champions.
Practice Three 30-minute practice sessions were held on Friday, with the two afternoon sessions being open only to the co-drivers. The morning session was open to all drivers, though only regular championship drivers took part. Fabian Coulthard set the fastest time ahead of Chaz Mostert and Van Gisbergen. The session was mostly free of incidents, though James Moffat had to return to the pit garage with a loose driver's window. The first of the co-driver sessions was topped by Steven Richards, ahead of Tony D'Alberto and Luff. A number of drivers went off the circuit during the session but were able to rejoin. Ashley Walsh stopped on the track with an electrical problem with five minutes remaining, causing a red flag. D'Alberto went quickest in the final Friday session, with Richards in second ahead of Steve Owen. A fourth and final 30-minute session was held on Saturday morning and was open to all drivers, though only five co-drivers completed laps during the session. The session was red-flagged at the halfway mark after a traffic cone used to mark the edge of the circuit at Turn 6 was dragged on to the track. Whincup set the fastest time, going 0.0002 seconds quicker than Scott McLaughlin, with Van Gisbergen in third. Todd Kelly stopped on the track at the end of the session due to an engine problem, prompting his team to change his car's engine prior to the qualifying session.
+ Practice summary Session Day Fastest lap No. Driver Team Car Time Practice 1 Friday 66 Fabian Coulthard DJR Team Penske Ford FG X Falcon 1:09.1233 Practice 2 Friday 888 Steven Richards Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore 1:09.7416 Practice 3 Friday 17 Tony D'Alberto DJR Team Penske Ford FG X Falcon 1:09.1656 Practice 4 Saturday 88 Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden VF Commodore 1:08.9245
Qualifying – Race 20 Qualifying for Race 20 consisted of three parts: a 20-minute qualifying session and two 20-lap (60 km) qualifying races. The qualifying session was contested by regular championship drivers and set the grid for the first of the qualifying races, which was contested by co-drivers. The results of the first qualifying race set the grid for the second, where the main drivers took part. The results of the second qualifying race decided the grid for Race 20.
Qualifying The qualifying session was held on Saturday morning. Todd Kelly did not take part in the first half the session as his team completed the engine change it had started after the final practice session. Mostert set the fastest lap time, putting his co-driver Owen on pole position for the first of the qualifying races. Whincup was second fastest, 0.0084 seconds slower than Mostert. Coulthard completed the top three ahead of Tander and Moffat.
Qualifying Race 1 Qualifying Race 1 was held on Saturday afternoon. Paul Dumbrell, starting second, made the best of the start to move into the lead ahead of Owen and Luke Youlden. Dean Canto locked a brake going into the first corner and hit the rear of D'Alberto, sending D'Alberto into a spin. Steven Richards was forced to stop to avoid a collision with D'Alberto's car. Canto was given a drive-through penalty for his role in the incident. Craig Baird went off the circuit at Turn 4 after locking his front brakes but was able to rejoin. Dumbrell quickly built a lead over Owen, with Youlden engaged in a close battle with Luff for third place. On lap 10, Chris van der Drift made a mistake at Turn 7 and hit the kerb, which punctured a tyre and damaged the suspension. He retired from the race at the end of the lap. Dumbrell took victory by 7.6 seconds over Owen, while Youlden was passed by both Luff and Jonathon Webb on the penultimate lap. The top ten was completed by David Wall, James Golding, Alexandre Prémat, Jack Perkins and Jack Le Brocq. Richie Stanaway was disqualified from the race when it was found that his car's tyres were below the minimum tyre pressure of 17 psi.
Qualifying Race 2 Qualifying Race 2 was held later on Saturday afternoon. Mostert made a slow start from second place and then ran wide at the first corner, dropping to eighth place. As he rejoined the circuit, Moffat was pushed into Cam Waters, who went off the circuit and became bogged in the wet grass. The safety car was deployed to allow Waters' car to be retrieved. The race restarted on lap 5 and Tander put pressure on Whincup for the lead. McLaughlin passed Will Davison for third place on lap 6; he was followed by Coulthard on lap 8. Davison continued to struggle for pace, dropping to ninth by lap 11. Coulthard was pushed off the track by Van Gisbergen on lap 17 as the latter attempted a pass at Turn 9. Coulthard then made contact with Davison at Turn 12, causing Davison to run wide and lose positions to Tim Slade and Michael Caruso. Van Gisbergen slowed on the main straight to allow Coulthard back through. Coulthard was then told to redress his pass on Davison, which he did on the final lap. Whincup took victory to put himself and Dumbrell on pole position for Race 20. It was the pair's third consecutive pole position at the Sandown 500. Tander finished second ahead of Garry Rogers Motorsport teammates McLaughlin and Moffat. Mostert recovered to finish fifth, with James Courtney, Van Gisbergen, Slade, Caruso and Davison completing the top ten.
Race 20 Race 20 was held on Sunday afternoon and the race regulations required each car to make at least three pit stops during the race. Each driver was required to complete a minimum of 54 laps out of the scheduled 161. All of the co-drivers were selected to start the race, with Dumbrell lining up on pole position ahead of Luff, Wall, Golding and Owen. Dumbrell had a lot of wheelspin off the line and dropped to fourth, while Walsh made a good start from eighth to move into third place, behind Luff and Wall. There was slight contact between Golding and Perkins at the first corner which damaged the front-right tyre on Golding's car. The tyre deflated at the end of the back straight and Golding went straight ahead at Turn 6, making heavy contact with the tyre wall. The safety car was deployed but with extensive repairs required for the tyre barrier, the race was red-flagged on lap 3. As per the regulations, all of the cars followed the safety car into the pit lane and teams were allowed to perform certain work on the cars. The contact with Golding had damaged the exhaust outlet on Perkins' car, which the Holden Racing Team was able to rectify during the red flag period. While tyre changes are usually not permitted under red flag conditions, the stewards gave teams the option to change to wet tyres as light rain had begun to fall. The red flag period meant that the race would eventually finish short of the scheduled 161 laps.