Supercars and the Adelaide 500. The words just go together.
Now they’re united again after an almost three-year hiatus.
Those three years were a rollercoaster for the relationship. The race was the last to go ahead in 2020 before the outbreak of the pandemic, and at the end of the year its contract was ripped up by South Australia a season early.
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It took a change of government this year to revive the event, and such is the enthusiasm for one of the country’s greatest street tracks that it was fast-tracked to become the final round of this year, a shift from its traditional season-opening slot.
Ordinarily eight months would be ample time to set up a well-established street course, but with some infrastructure sold, other parts in need of restoration and most of the circuit itself requiring resurfacing, South Australian organisers have been up against it to be ready on time.
But the finishing touches were put on the parklands circuit with just moments to spare, and today the iconic track at long lasts welcomes back the Supercars.
And there couldn’t be a more symbolically significant way to end the 2022 season.
This year’s calendar has been just about normal compared to those of the preceding pandemic years, the sport able to crisscross the country freely after two seasons of border restrictions and Covid regulations.
Adelaide is one of the final missing pieces of the puzzle, which will finally be completed with the return of Newcastle at the first round of next season.
But more significant is that this weekend is the long braced-for final race for the Holden brand.
Holden is part of the Australian story but an indelible part of Adelaide history.
James Holden established the forerunner of what would eventually become his eponymous car manufacturer in Adelaide 1856, and while the rapidly growing business expanded all over the country, most notably in Melbourne, its Elizabeth plant in northern Adelaide was its spiritual and emotional home for almost its entire history.
As much was clear when the brand commenced the unhappy process of winding down last decade. Production contracted until just Elizabeth was left, and on 20 October 2017 the last locally designed Commodore rolled off the production line in the same city the Holden story started.
Thanks to the timely rescue of the Adelaide 500, so too will Holden take the chequered flag for the final time where the lion first roared.
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True, Holden has really been gone for quite some time. The company shuttered long ago, with the Commodore racing on in Supercars only thanks to the silhouette regulations, a kind of long echo through the years.
The introduction of the Gen3 rules next year will mean the end of that throwback, at least in the main game, in favour of General Motors backing the Chevrolet Camaro to go up against the new Ford Mustang.
Of course GM has owned Holden for longer than the Australian Touring Car Championship has existed, so the long-running rivalry in that sense continues. But with neither Holden nor Ford existing as Australian manufacturers, and with the Camaro not even sold directly in Australia, it will take a very different form.
Better? Worse? Just different. It’ll be an all-new era for the sport.
That of course means this is the end of the Holden-Ford era as we know it — and that means one final piece of that significant Australian history is up for grabs on Holden’s home turf this weekend.
And you can bet everyone wants to claim it for themselves.
WHO WILL WIN HOLDEN’S LAST RACE?
“Everyone wants to be the last Holden winner,” said Shane van Gisbergen, the guy who’s realistically the most likely to take the spoils. “That’s going to mean a lot to our team and GM.”
Van Gisbergen isn’t only this year’s dominant champion, having won all but 11 of the 32 races so far, but he’s been the season’s best performer on street tracks, winning six of the eight races to date on public roads, including two comfortable wins at the Gold Coast 500 last time out.
This will also be the Kiwi’s final chance to add to his Holden victory tally. Though he can’t improve from fourth on the list, he can end his Holden tenure with 75 victories for the lion if he claims both races this weekend, which would put him five behind Mark Skaife, 10 behind Craig Lowndes and 16 behind leader Jamie Whincup.
With both championships wrapped up, Van Gisbergen and Triple Eight can go all-out in pursuit of glory this weekend — not that they could be accused of doing much less for the rest of the year.
The current General Motors homologation team, having formerly been the official Holden factory-backed squad, will be kitted out in a special tribute livery too, and the Kiwi will make a rare one-off number change to run with the championship number 1 for this weekend only.
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“There’s certainly no underestimating the significance of this year’s Adelaide 500,” said Jamie Whincup, the Adelaide victory record holder turned Triple Eight principal.
“Seeing the Holden badge cross the finish line for the final time on Sunday on its home soil will no doubt pull a heart string.”
It’ll be a fitting tribute by the foremost Holden team, but for those who think that all sounds a lot like it’s all a bit too fate-tempting, there’s an alternative favourite.
Walkinshaw Andretti United will be doubly motivated to be the first team to take Holden’s final chequered flag.
Not only was the team originally constituted as the Holden Racing Team, the brand’s official entry into the championship, but this year it will end that historic General Motors association toS switch to racing Mustangs in 2023.
Chaz Mostert has the most victories of any driver who isn’t Shane van Gisbergen this year and must be considered one of the victory contenders, particularly given WAU tends to perform more strongly on longer weekends.
But his low-key teammate will start the weekend with especially high motivation.
Nick Percat has been very gradually turning around what’s been a pretty underwhelming season just in time for his first home race in almost three years.
And the Adelaidean has a particular family connection that would make a big result this weekend especially meaningful.
Holden runs through four generations of his family.
His great-grandfather, grandfather and father all worked in Holden’s Adelaide factories, a legacy Nick perpetuated by racing for Holden in his Supercars debut in 2010 and winning the Bathurst 1000 with the Holden Racing Team partnered with Holden icon Garth Tander.
People don’t come much more Holden than that.
“For me, if I stood on the podium or won it, honestly, it’d be bigger than winning Bathurst,” Percat told Speedcafe.
“There’s the Holden part, with the last time we drive the cars, and then obviously being with this team as well.
“It would mean a lot to get a big result in front of the home crowd and at my home track.”
It need a remarkable form turnaround for Percat to step onto the podium, but with the two leading Holden teams more than eager to take the manufacturer’s final victory, the 34-year-old is sure to play a role this weekend.
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IS THERE A POTENTIAL FORD UPSET IN THE OFFING?
But a Holden fairytale is no guarantee, and three drivers in particular will be out to spoil the party.
Tickford’s Cameron Waters has almost sealed second in the drivers championship and hasn’t finished outside the top 10 since April — and he’s finished inside the top five in all but seven of the last 25 races.
“I feel like we’ve been talking about Holden’s send-off for a few years now,” Waters told the Supercars website.
“There’s a lot to play for for those guys, signing off from Holden.
“It’s a fairytale finish that they’re wanting.
“We’re going to treat it as another race, another one we want to win.
“We’ve got to try and rain on Holden’s parade.”
Waters’s route to an upset comes via his superb qualifying record, with the Ford racer equal first in the pole championship count with nine top-qualifier performances.
It ties him with Will Davison from Dick Johnson Racing, who’s also equalled his fellow Ford star with 14 podiums and three victories for the season despite the almost insurmountable 293 points between them.
Davison is therefore best placed to maintain DJR’s five-year pole streak. The Stapylton team has dominated the pole championship since 2017 with Scott McLaughlin until 2020 and then Anton de Pasquale last year.
Shane van Gisbergen could also end the weekend as the joint pole champion if he were to sweep both qualifying sessions.
And that means Davison will be fighting a four-way battle to take that particular crown given teammate Anton de Pasquale will surely arrive in Adelaide with the intention of beating the sister car in the title standings.
De Pasquale started the year as one of the title favourites but has been comprehensively shaded by his teammate for poles (9-3), wins (3-1) and podiums (14-10).
Ford couldn’t force the upset at Bathurst. Can any of the brand’s three best-placed drivers rain on Holden’s final parade in Adelaide instead?
WHO CAN END THEIR YEARS ON A HIGH?
Holden isn’t the only racing stalwart being farewelled this weekend, with Lee Holdsworth hanging up the helmet on Sunday night more than 19 years after he first got behind the wheel of a Supercars machine.
The 39-year-old only made his comeback from a year out only this season, having been pushed out of Tickford shrinking garage at the end of 2020.
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Perhaps it proved a blessing of sorts given it gave him a chance to join WAU as Chaz Mostert’s Bathurst co-driver last year, with the pair gong on to win the race, which springboarded him to a full-time Grove drive this year.
“Being able to end my full-time career on my own terms was my aim,” he told the Supercars website. “You don’t get many fairytales in this sport, and it helps the transition for next year.”
Chris Pither will also find himself out of full-time Supercars racing next year after being axed by PremiAir to make room for Tim Slade.
A relatively sedate silly season means he’ll be the only driver with a full year of main-game racing under his belt in next year’s co-driver market, which should put him in a strong position for cameos at Sandown and Bathurst.
Slade will be hoping to end his two years at the single-car Tim Blanchard Racing team on a high by cracking the top 10 in the standings. The PremiAir-bound racer is just four points behind Andre Heimgartner in 10th and 57 points behind Mark Winterbottom in ninth.
Todd Hazelwood will leave Matt Stone Racing to replace Slade at BRT next year, his second move in as many races. He’s 18th in the standings and 26 points behind Bryce Fullwood.
HOW CAN I WATCH IT?
The season-ending Adelaide 500 is live on Fox Sports and Kayo.
First practice is this afternoon at 4:25pm (AEDT).
Second practice is on Friday at 1:45pm followed by qualifying for Saturday’s race at 6:05pm.
Final practice starts at 11:30am on Saturday ahead of the top-10 shootout at 1:05pm for the afternoon’s race, with lights out at 3:45pm.
Sunday qualifying is at 11:30am, with the top-10 shootout following at 12:35pm before the final race of the season at 3:15pm.