The Darwin Triple Crown will be revitalised with new criteria this year introduced as part of a series of changes made to the Supercars calendar.
The Triple Crown, inaugurated in 2006, has traditionally been awarded to the driver who could sweep all three races at Hidden Valley Raceway.
On eight occasions it was offered to a driver who could win two races and the weekend’s sole top-10 shootout.
Format tweaks rung in for 2024 have reduced the Triple Crown to two races but with two top-10 shootouts, forcing changes to the criteria of the unique award.
To plug the gap, the first qualifying session of the weekend will form the first leg of the three-leg challenge.
The decision has triggered a rejig of the weekend format.
Friday will now comprise a shorter practice session, reduced from 90 minutes to 60 minutes, and a half-hour qualifying session for Saturday’s race.
The fastest driver at the end of Friday qualifying will be credited with the first leg of the Triple Crown.
Saturday will start with a new 30-minute practice session followed by the top-10 shootout for the first race of the weekend later that day.
Sunday’s schedule remains unchanged, with qualifying, the shootout and the final race of the weekend taking place as planned.
“By moving the qualifying session to Friday afternoon, there’s something to drive for every day of the event, which is what fans want to see,” Supercars motorsport general manager Tim Edwards said.
“Darwin is one of our marquee events on the calendar, and we think this format adds another dimension to the on-track product.”
Both races at the Triple Crown will run to 137 kilometres, or 48 laps.
The race duration reaffirms the sport’s decision to back away from the plan to convert sprint races in Perth, Darwin and Symmons Plains to time-limited events, as was first announced with the release of the 2024 calendar last year.
The Triple Crown was introduced to Darwin’s round of the championship in 2006 as a bonus incentive for drivers at Hidden Valley Raceway, but it has proved remarkably hard to win.
The accolade has been claimed only twice, by Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup, though neither won it over a three-race format.
McLaughlin became the first winner in 2019 by winning the 42-lap Saturday sprint, scoring pole on Sunday’s top-10 shootout and easing to victory later that day in the feature 70-lap race.
Rule changes in the Covid-affected 2020 season awarded the Triple Crown to the driver who scored the most points over the round, paving the way for Whincup to sew up the accolade.
SANDOWN DATE CHANGE CONFIRMED
Changes to the Triple Crown schedule follow confirmation that the Sandown 500 will be brought forward one weekend.
The traditional Bathurst 1000 curtain-raiser and first of two endurance rounds, Sandown will now take place on 13–15 September.
The Supercars said the decision had been made because the Melbourne Racing Club, owners of Sandown Raceway, “cannot meet the operational needs of a Supercars event” on the race’s original date.
“The date change provides the greatest opportunity for Supercars to deliver the best possible event that showcases the rich history of the Sandown 500,” Supercars said in a statement.
The 2024 Sandown 500 will be the 60th anniversary of the track’s first endurance event, held in 1964, and the 50th running of the race.
The new date better balances the calendar, with the rescheduled race now falling four weeks after the Tasmania SuperSprint and four weeks before the Bathurst 1000.
Bringing the race forward by a week also avoids the round clashing with the AFL preliminary finals, though the league’s semi-finals will likely take place at the same time on the Friday and Saturday nights of the new weekend.
The 2024 Sandown 500 could be the final running of the race, with Sandown Raceway under constant threat of closure and sale by the Melbourne Racing Club.
Sandown is located on a 112-hectare site around 25 kilometres southeast of the Melbourne CBD and is serviced by the arterial Princes Highway as well as its own train station, Sandown Park station, on the busy Cranbourne-Pakenham line.
Estimates suggest the land could be redeveloped to host as many as 7500 homes in a deal that some have estimated could be worth as much a $3.5 billion to the MRC.
The absence of Tailem Bend on the 2024 Supercars calendar came with a promise from the sport to host an endurance race at the South Australian circuit next season, ensuring at least two endurance rounds will take place in 2025 regardless of Sandown’s fate.
